W"*    •• 


X      ',  .  ^ 

- 


GEORGE   ROBERTSON 


AN 


OUTLINE  OF  THE  LIFE 


OF 


GEORGE  LRoBERTsoN, 

WRITTEN    BY   HIMSELF, 

WITH  AN   INTRODUCTION  AND  APPENDIX 
BY  HIS  SON. 


"And  this  (publication)  I  desire,  not  in  the  vain  hope  of  posthumous 
fame,  but  in  the  belief  that  it  may  be  my  best  legacy  to  my  descendants, 
useful  to  surviving  friends,  and  of  some  service  to  my  succeeding  coun- 
trymen."— GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

"Do  you  not  knoT.u  how  strictly  tue  should  guard  the  homes  of  the  dead, 
since  they  cannot  do  it  for  themselves?" — MARLITT. 


LEXINGTON,  KY.: 
TRANSYLVANIA  PRINTING  &  PUBLISHING.  CO 

1876. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of   Congress,  in  the  year   1876, 

BY  GEORGE  O.  GRAVES,   Administrator, 
In  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,   D. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION, 7 

PARENTAGE,  PIONEER  LIFE, 13 

BIRTH,  SCHOOL  DAYS,  ADMISSION  TO  THE  BAR,  MARRIAGE  AND 

EARLY  STRUGGLES 23 

INCIDENTS  OF  CONGRESSIONAL  CANVASS  AND  LIFE, 43 

IN  STATE   LEGISLATURE,   APPELLATE  JUDGE,  CONTESTS  FOR  U. 

S.  SENATE  AND  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION, 57 

CHARACTER   AND  HABITS, 70 

MEMORIALS  OF  HIS  WIFE  AND  CHILDREN, 76 

RETURN  TO,  AND  ABDICATION  OF,  THE  BENCH, 89 

His  VIEWS  OF  THIS  AND  A  FUTURE  LIFE — LAST  ILLINESS  AND 

DEATH, 95 

FUNERAL  SERVICES, in 

APPENDIX, 117 

SCENES  OF  EARLY  LIFE, 117 

GARRARD  COUNTY, 123 

His  PATRIOTISM, 129 

LOVE  OF  Music, 132 

DOMESTIC  AND  SOCIAL  RELATIONS, 133 

GENERAL  INFORMATION,      141 

THE  POLITICIAN, 142 

THE  LAWYER, 149 

THE  TEACHER  OF  LAW, 157 

THE  JUDGE, 160 

J.  B.  ROBERTSON, 180 

NOTICES  OF  HIS  CHARACTER, 184 

EXTRACTS  FROM  HIS  WRITINGS, 192 

ERRATA, 210 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  name  of  every  member  of  society,  certainly  of  every 
well-known  man,  is,  at  all  times,  impleaded  before  a  tribunal, 
august,  by  reason  of  its  power,  the  number  of.  its  judges 
and  the  gravity  of  its  issues,  for  the  most  part  honest,  but 
fallible  and  irresponsible,  whose  laws  are  unwritten,  whose 
jurisdiction  is  unlimited,  whose  proceedings  are  irregular, 
and  which  never  adjourns;  from  whose  decision  there  is 
no  appeal,  and  from  whose  police  there  is  no  escape; 
which  wields  a  might  above  the  sway  of  Church  and 
State,  and  grasps,  not  only. the  functions  of  a  civil  service — 
commission  to  try  and  to  sentence  every  holder  of  a  public 
trust,  but  also  the  authority  of  that  God-appointed  and  pri- 
vate censor,  Conscience,  and  that  far-off  hierarchy  who  sat 
in  judgment  of  the  dead. 

Its  name  is  Public  Opinion. 

These  pages  may  be  accepted  as  the  final  report,  filed 
in  that  inevitable  Court,  of  the  manner  in  which  he  had 
discharged  his  obligations  to  his  fellow-men,  and  his  duties  to 
himself,  by  one  whose  term  of  service  upon  earth  was  about 
to  close.  Putting  yourself  in  his  place,  do  you  ask  what 
good  it  will  do  you  to  be  remembered  with  kindness,  or, 
at  all,  after  you  are  dead?  The  question  is  unanswerable. 
The  wish  to  be  so  remembered,  even  if  never  fulfilled,  may 
shape  your  course,  and  work  out  your  welfare,  here  and 
hereafter,  and  if  accomplished,  may  make  your  example 
of  infinite  value  to  others. 

The  philosophy  of  practical  life,  which  adapts  means  to 
ends,  has  vibrated  between  two  great  motives.  The  creed 
of  a  generation  whose  last  survivors  are  fast  passing  away, 
may  be  summed  up  in  the  well  known  words :  A  good  name 
is  rather  to  be  chosen  than  great  riches.  Its  effect  was  to 
moor  many  a  true  and  drifting  soul  to  sure  and  steadfast 
rules,  which  had  their  outgrowth  in  plain  manners  and  in 
the  performance  of  every  social  duty.  The  substance  ol 
the  faith  which  now  prevails,  may  be  favorably  condensed 
into  the  expression:  Property  is  respectability,  or  the  chief 
good  is  wealth.  Would  you  see  its  fruits?  Behold  this 
age  and  land,  matchless  in  the  profusion  and  variety  of 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 


their  material  advantages,  but  strewed  with  moral  wrecks  ! 
The  low  plane  of  the  sensual  offers  few  objects  of  pur- 
suit that  are  not  within  the  reach  of  both  wrong  means 
and  wrong  subordinate  motives  and  right  ones.  Its  re- 
wards are  also  bribes ;  its  incentives  to  good  are  temptations 
to  evil.  The  voyage  of  the  Apostle  and  the  cruise  of  the 
pirate  are  steered  by  the  same  star.  The  love  of  approba- 
tion may  beget  grovelling  arts  and  counterfeit  presentmc: 
It  is  not  the  desire  of  praise,  but  the  desire  to  be  worthy  of 
praise,  that  regenerate  .\  name  to  be  good  must  be  true. 
Public  integrity  must  denote  private  virtue.  The  one  is  the 
flower,  the  other  the  root. 

This  volume  is  the    profile  of  a  single    life.      Its   author 

I  acquainted  with  the  leading  characters  and  the 
great  social  and  political  movements  of  the  progressive 
times  in  which  he  lived,  and  especially  with  the  controlling 
minds  and  the  written  and  oral  history  of  his  native  State. 
His  familiar  discourse  was  often  enlivened  by  fresh  and  racy 

:ches  of  men  and  manners,  which,  if  extended  and  writ- 
ten out,  would  b_*  as  entertaining  and  instruc  the 
diary  of  Evelyn,  the  memoirs  of  Harrington,  or  the  full 
length  portraits  of  Clarendon.  But  his  purpose,  in  this  pos- 
thumus  publication,  was  not  to  give  a  retrospect  of  his  own 
times.  He  knew  that  could  not  be  done  impartially  and 
without  offense  until  not  only  he,  but  all  those  whose 
motives  or  actions  entitled  them  to  notice,  had  passed  for- 

r  from  the  scene.  Without,  as  his  words  often,  and  his 
conduct  always  declared,  valuing  that  widespread  and  indis- 
criminating  notoriety  which  may  be  the  offspring  of  a  pn 
tuted  press  or  party,  or  the  bastard  of  accident,  he  did 
earnestly  desire  that  the  witnesses  of  his  conduct  in  the 
various  relations  of  life,  and  most  of  all,  those  who  had  con- 
fided private  or  public  trusts  into  his  hands,  might  be  able  to 
say  with  truth,  if  not  with  gratitude,  after  he  had  gone  from 
among  them.  Well  done,  at  all  times  and  in  every  place, 
tried  and  faithful  man!  And  with  unshaken  confidence  in 
his  own  probity,  if  tested  by  the  highest  human  standard. 
he  left  this  memorial  of  his  motives  and  his  deeds,  his  sorrows 
and  his  joys,  his  weakness  and  his  strength,  with  the  hope 
that  it  might  guide  other  travelers  along  the  rugged,  treach- 
erous and  bewildering  path  which  he  had  safely  trod.  In 
these  last  lines,  dictated  or  approved  when  the  shadow  of 
coming  oblivion  was  settling  fast  upon  him,  he  speaks  words 


LIFE  OF   GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 


of  good  cheer,  now  sealed  by  death,  to  young  men,  espe- 
cially those  of  humble  birth  and  fortune  —  the  class  from 
which  he  sprung,  and  to  which  he  ever  extended  an  open 
hand.  He  shows  that  without  being  "pensioners  on  the 
dead,"  or  parasites  of  the  living,  without  advantages  derived 
by  descent  or  obtained  by  marriage,  or  by  any  of  the  wind- 
falls that  irresolute  Micawbers  ingloriously  await,  strong  will 
and  lofty  aims  may  reap  harvests  of  their  own  sowing,  and 
4  '  repose  beneath  shades  which  they  themselves  have  planted.  " 
He  points  to  his  own  sturdy  and  unaided  growth  to  prove 
that  lack  of  help  may  be  the  mother  of  self-reliance  and  the 
stern  nurse  of  untried  power,  and  adds  one  more  example  to 
the  old  lesson,  so  seldom  learned  until  the  recitation  is  ended 
and  the  refractor)-  pupil  about  to  be  dismissed,  —  that  the 
vicissitudes  of  life  are  the  frosts  and  thaws  of  a  disciplinary 
winter,  intended  to  weed,  mellow  and  strengthen  the  mind 
and  heart,  to  produce  plenteous  and  golden  fruits.  Unlike 
parvenues  who  disown  their  origin,  he  claims  to  be  the  shoot 
of  an  undistinguished  but  brave  and  honest  stock,  and  quiet- 
ly takes  the  place  which  by  sympathy,  manners  and  associa- 
tion, he  ever  held  among  plain  people  of  moderate  means, 
pure  morals  and  good  sense.  It  was  among  such  that  he 
found  his  earliest,  latest  and  most  faithful  friends.  And  he 
felt  sure,  if  it  conferred  no  merit,  it  was  neither  a  reproach 
nor  misfortune  to  be  bred  and  trained  in  the  ranks  of  the 
common  people  —  that  mighty  infantry,  without  pennon  or 
device,  who,  though  often  led  astray  and  often  betrayed, 
shattered  and  driven  back  when  in  the  right  course,  had 
from  the  days  of  the  unlineal  Elijah  the  Tishbite,  in  every 
succeeding  age,  in  every  free  country,  and  in  every  field  of 
useful  effort,  wrought  most  of  the  memorable  deeds  and  pro- 
duced most  of  the  great  names  that  have  blessed  mankind. 

He  teaches  that  the  only  place  at  which  to  begin  is  the 
one  which  has  been  assigned  us  ;  that  the  best  place  to  attain 
may  not  be  the  one  which  we  most  desire,  or  for  which  we 
are  best  suited,  but  that  which  is  best  fitted  for  us  ;  that  the 
best  place  at  which  to  end  is  where,  after  having  employed 
every  talent,  and  performed  every  duty,  with  exhausted 
strength,  and  with  harness  on.  we  fall.  He  shows,  inferen- 
tially.  that  great  powers  of  action-  and  endurance  may  find 
lanje  scope  for  their  exercise  in  any  place  ;  that  the  hum- 
blest place  may  be  exalted,  and  the  proudest  place  de- 
graded, by  its  occupant  ;  and  that  the  skeleton  of  the  guard 


X  INTRODUCTION. 


found  standing  at  his  post,  near  the  gate  of  the  disinterred 
city,  still  holding  aloft  the  lantern,  \vhich  lighted  for  all 
but  him  the  way  of  escape,  tells  the  story  of  a  grander 
place,  because  more  grandly  filled,  than  the  imperial  seat. 
Finally,  he  shows  that  no  place  upon  the  quicksands  of 
Time  can  satisfy  the  infinite  longings  of  a  thoughtful  soul. 
His  career  affords  a  cud  for  both  the  Pelagian  and  the 
predestinarian.  He  docs  not  assert  that  he  achieved  any 
extraordinary  share  of  that  material  and  external  advance- 
ment which  human  short-sightedness  elevates  as  the 
only  standard  of  success,  but  only  claims  t<>  have  received 
such  returns  of  that  kind  as  any  one  may  reasonably 
expect  in  this  world,  of  uncertain  and  unequal  reuards,  for 
doing  his  duty.  He  leaves  the  enigma  of  his  oun,  and  every 
other  life  in  which  the  conflicting  forces,  free-will  and  neces- 
sity seem  to  co-exist,  to  be  solved,  if  ever,  in  a  state  of 
being,  where  the  evidence  is  clearer,  or  the  discernment  is 
more  acute,  than  in  this.  If  he  rose  above  difficulties,  sor 
rows  often  rose  above  him;  and  his  history  reveals  that  pure 
intentions,  leading  to  good  actions  and  amiable  affections 
devoted  to  worthy  and  attractive  objects,  may  not  prevent, 
but  may  be  the  means  of  producing  temporal  afflictions  more 
severe  and  lasting  than  those  which  commonly  result  from 
debased  appetites,  directed  to  selfish  and  ignoble  ends. 

If  this  result  of  an  upright  life  tends  to  prove  that  it  is  a 
failure,  it  creates  a  far  stronger  presumption,  that  it  is  unfin- 
ished and  will  find  its  complement  hereafter.  And,  there 
fore,  every  such  example  points,  it  may  1).-,  through  mists 
and  clouds,  to  this  truth  as  the  guiding  star  of  human  destiny. 
That  the  only  measure  of  a  man,  which  can  stand  the  tests 
of  time  and  change,  is  not  the  adumbrations  which  lie  casts 
before  men,  nor  what  he  has,  but  what  he  must  think  of  him- 
self when  his  thoughts  and  deeds  are  squared  by  the  "shadow 
of  God,"  which  is  the  light  within  him.  And  that  "wisdom. 
as  it  refers  to  action,  lies  in  the  proposal  of  a  right  end,  and 
the  choice  of  the  most  proper  means  to  attain  it;  which  end 
doth  not  refer  to  any  one  part  of  a  man's  life,  but  to  the 
whole  as  taken  together.  And  that,  therefore,  he  only  de- 
serves the  name  of  a  wise  man,  not  who  considers  how  to  be 
rich  and  great  when  he  is  poor  and  mean,  nor  how  to  be 
well  when  he  is  sick,  nor  how  to  escape  a  present  danger, 
nor  how  to  compass  a  particular  design,  but  he  that  considers 
the  whole  course  of  his  life  together  and  what  is  fit  for  him 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  XI 

to  make  the  end  of  it."     A  fit  motto  for  this  book  would  be: 
Act  well  your  part;  a  fit  moral  or  conclusion:  Live  for  others. 

Reticence  is  not  a  fault  of  this  narrative;  blunders  are  ad- 
mitted and  merit  is  claimed;  disappointments  and  sorrows 
under  domestic  afflictions,  which  neither  faith  nor  reason 
could  assuage,  are  disclosed;  incidents  that  might  be  trivial, 
if  anything  influencing  character  is  so,  are  told.  He  tells  of 
his  hurried  education,  of  the  straightened  circumstances 
(angusta  resdomf)  of  his  early  married  life;  of  his  addiction  to 
cards,  and  his  other  shifts  to  earn  and  make  money,  and  of  his 
provincial  rusticity,  ' '  By  forms  unfashioned,  fresh  from 
nature's  hand,"  and  want  of  savoir  faire  that  led  him,  when 
a  member  of  Congress,  uninvited,  to  drink  the  wine  of  a 
Commodore.  That  there  are  no  confessions,  like  some  of 
Rousseau's,  and  many  by  De  Retz,  is  because  he  was  not 
a  less  candid,  but  a  purer  man  than  the  erotic  sentimentalist 
or  the  reckless  Cardinal. 

Complete  self-knowledge  is  impossible,  and  the  author  of 
these  pages  may  have  done  himself  more  or  less  than  justice. 
In  the  judgment  of  those  who  knew  him  best,  his  failings, 
like  the  bending  of  the  stalk  of  well  filled  grain,  were  the  re 
suit  of  his  goodness. 

This  autobiography  was  originally  written  by  the  author's 
own  hand,  and  was  more  succinct  and  connected  than  now. 
During  the  last  years  of  his  life,  when  blind  and  helpless,  he 
dictated  many  interpolations,  some  of  which,  perhaps,  he 
would  not  have  approved,  had  his  health  been  vigorous. 
Whatever  may  be  its  faults,  it  contains  no  word  of  reproach, 
and  the  grave  has  closed  the  ear  of  him  who  was  both  its 
author,  its  subject,  to  the  voice  of  censure  and  of  praise,  and 
to  the  dull,  cold  silence  of  indifference — facts  that  will  be- 
speak for  it  a  forbearance  that  might  be  less  willingly  con- 
ceded to  a  more  aggressive  work,  or  to  the  autobiography  of 
a  living  man.  Toward  the  matter  which  has  been  appended 
to  the  narrative,  by  one  who  had  no  other  qualification  for 
the  task  than  long  acquaintance  with  the  author,  may  be 
supposed  to  confer,  and  under  circumstances  which  rendered 
the  task  imperative,  far  greater  indulgence  is  needed  and 
besought. 

This  book  is  only  a  meager  outline.  If  a  full  and  just 
biography  of  Judge  Robertson  should  ever  be  written  by  a 
competent  hand,  it  will  show  a  heart  almost  incredibly  pure 
and  amiable;  a  will  always  earnest  and  active;  a  mind  that 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

could  not  only  master  the  most  difficult  subjects,  but  also 
capable  of  great  and  original  thoughts,  and  able  to  organize 
l.p.owledge;  a  citizen  \vatchful  of  his  country's  interests,  con- 
ceiving with  the  wide  and  prophetic  vision  of  a  statesman, 
speaking  with  the  force  of  strong  convictions,  advocating  and 
opposing  with  the  fearlessness  of  a  patriot;  a  jurist,  who 
--oared  to  a  height  above  the  dust  and  clamor  of  pic  poudrc 
courts,  and  there  combining  reason  with  authority,  reconciled 
the  discordant,  simplified  the  abstruse,  crushed  or  separated 
the  intractible.  and  erred,  when  he  did  err,  in  the  endeavor 
to  prevent  general  rules  from  sacrificing  indiv, duals;  a  man, 
who  taking  in,  at  one  view,  the  end  and  purpose  of  the 
whole  of  life,  tried  to  make  his  actions  conform  thereto. 

But  the  time  has  parsed  when  the  recognition  or  denial  of 
his  worth  can  concern  him.  His  dust  will  mingle  with  the 
soil  from  which  he  sprung;  his  thoughts  and  the  results 
which  he  achieved  will  soon  be  undistinguishably  blended 
with  the  common  knowledge.  Those  uho  reap  tneir  benefit 
will  not  know  or  acknowledge  their  -ource.  Not  a  few  of 
the  best  and  greatest  of  men  have  died  and  left  no  sign. 
Karth  is  crowded  with  names  kept  alive  by  the  fascinations  of 
the  style,  or  the  beauty  of  the  marble  that  enshrines  them. 
Other  men,  like  Johnson  leaning  on  Boswell,  as  on  a  staff, 
and  Socrates  resting  on  the  shoulders  of  Plato  and  of  Xeiio- 
phon,  a--  on  the  pillar-;  of  Hercules,  h.i  -olid  merit--  to 

sustain  them.  Others  still,  like  Homer  and  Shakespeare, 
live  only  in  their  work>.  And  this  .it  last  must  be  the  fate 
of  all;  grp.:^--:  crumbles,  triple  brass  corrodes,  memorial  tab- 
lets and  inscriptions  overlay  and  hide  each  other.  Mortality 
is  inexorable — its  la\.'  is  compensation,  its  decree  is  change. 
Kvery  life  borrows  the  materials  of  its  organi/atioii  and  the 
subjects  of  its  forces,  and  must  restore  them  to  their  source. 
Decay  nourishes;  the  tiniest  moss,  the  grandest  tree,  must 
pay  back  its  elements  to  the  >oil  and  to  the  air,  to  become 
the  food  of  other  forms.  The  man  must  be  lost  in  humanity 
— the  individual  in  the  race.  Names  must  perish,  works  be- 
come common  property;  but  only  in  this  world.  The  action, 
like  the  act  ^r.  has  an  immortal  soul.  "  I  heard  a  voice 
from  Heaven  saying  unto  me,  write,  Tht'ir  icorks 

do 


LIFE  OF    GEORGE   ROBERTSON. 


CHAPTER  I. 

As  my  descendants  may  desire  to  know  more  of  me  than 
they  might  glean  from  tradition,  I  commence,  this  i8th  of 
November,  1858 — the  68th  anniversary  of  my  birth — to  write, 
for  their  inspection,  a  memorial  of  my  life.  And,  although 
Autobiography  is  too  much  tinged  with  egotism,  yet  I  will 
strive  to  speak  of  myself  as  candidly  as  I  ought  to  speak  of 
any  other  person,  with  the  eminent  advantage  of  more  accu- 
racy, fullness  and  authenticity  in  my  own  case,  than  in  that 
of  another. 

My  genealogy  has  not  been  emblazoned  by  heraldry,  nor 
illustrated  by  either  statesmanship  or  arms ;  and  I  cannot 
trace  my  line  of  descent  further  upward,  by  regular  links  of 
concatenation,  than  to  my  paternal  and  maternal  stocks  of 
great  grand-parents. 

My  father,  Alexander  Robertson,  born  in  Augusta  county, 
Virginia,  about  a  mile  from  Staunton,  and  northwestwardly 
of  it,  on  the  22d  of  November,  1/48,  was  the  son  of  James 
Robertson,  who,  with  his  own  father,  of  the  same  name,  im- 
migrated, about  the  year  1737,  to  America  from  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Coleraine,  in  the  north  of  Ireland.  They  were 
probably  a  portion  of  the  colony  of  Scotch-Irish  Presbyte- 
rians, who  settled  on  Burden's  grant,  in  the  then  trans  Alle- 
ghanian  wilderness  of  the  colony  of  Virginia,  which  had  been, 
a  few  years  before,  visited  by  Lewis  and  Sailing,  the  latter  of 
whom  was  captured  by  Indians  near  the  forks  of  James  river, 
and  taken,  about  the  year  1725,  to  Kentucky  as  its  first 
white  visitants,  so  far  as  authentic  tradition  testifies. 

My  mother's  maiden  name  was  Margaret  Rob/;/son.  Her 
father,  William  Robinson,  was  born  early  in  the  i8th  cen- 
tury, in  the  county  of  Down,  Northern  Ireland,  whence  his 


14  LIFE   OF   JUDGE    ROBERTSON* 

father,  James  Robinson,  and  himself  and  six  brothers,  all 
over  six  feet  high,  came  about  the  year  1740  to  Lancaster 
county,  Pennsylvania.  Not  long  after  his  advent  he  married 
Margaret  Garrel,  a  pretty  little  fair-haired  and  blue-eyed 
Welch  girl ;  his  own  hair  and  eyes  being  dark  brown.  Short- 
ly after  his  marriage,  he  removed  to  the  last  crossing  of 
Koanoke,  near  Voss'  Fort — then  in  the  county  of  Fincastle, 
but  when  my  mother  was  born  the  county  of  Bottetourt,  and 
now  the  county  of  Montgomery,  Virginia — and  settled  on 
an  improved  and  large  tract  of  land  (called  Fotheringay) 
which  is  as  fertile  and  romantic  as  any  in  Western  Virginia. 
He  was  considered  one  of  the  most  upright,  modest  and 
handsome  men  of  his  day,  and  my  mother's  face  was  siid  to 
be  a  blooming  likeness  of  his. 

My  paternal  grandfather  was  tall  and  spare,  but  of  large 
frame.  His  skin  was  fair  and  his  eyes  blue.  His  piety  was 
unquestioned,  and  his  character  unsoilcd.  He  married,  in 
Augusta,  Kli/.abeth  Crawford,  a  handsome  girl,  of  good  fam- 
ily. Of  her  genealogy  I  know  nothin 

Thus,  as  early  a^  about  1742,  all  my  grand-parents  resided 
in  Western  Virginia,  then  almost  a  trackless  wildenu  — . 

The    f>hysit]iu\   the   numilt,   and   the   orthography   indicate 

*  Judge  Robertson  unite  the  subjoined  no'icc  of  his  lather's  sister: — 
Kehecra    Dunlap,  mother  of  Rev.    James    Dimlap.  the  oldest   i:iti/en   of 
l"a\ctte.  died  at  the  residence  of  her  son.  Col.    John  R.  Dunlap.  near  Lex 
ington.  Kentucky,  on  the  morning  of  the   -\\\  of  November,  \*.\<),   in  the 
</j'h  vear  of  her  age 

Born  in  Augusta  county.  Virginia,  on  the  J^d  of  July.  1751,  she  there 
intermarried  with  William  Danla  >.  In  '/8^  thej  emigrated  to  Kentucky, 
and  in  17^;  settled  about  four  miles  from  Lexington,  where  she  ever  after 
resided  until  her  death,  within  fortv  feet  of  the  site  of  her  first  cabin.  Her 
husband.  William  Dunlap.  died  March  ;th.  iSid.  aged  ~2  years.  j  months 
and  j^  davs.  Her  father.  James  Robertson,  about  the  year  1755.  came  to 
America  from  the  noith  of  Ireland,  and  in  1739  married  Eli/.abeth  Craw- 
ford, and  settled  about  one  mile  from  Stanton,  then  in  the  backwoods  of 
Virginia,  where  Rebecca,  his  sixth  child,  and  the  last  survivor  of  his  family, 
was  born  and  reared,  and  where  he  died  in  her  infancy  about  the  year 
17581  He  was  a  plain  upright  man,  of  spotless  character  and  exemplary 
living  and  dying  a  steadfast  Presbyterian.  She  also,  at  an  early 
day  after  her  settlement  in  Kentucky,  became  a  member  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian church  at  Walnut  Hill,  of  which  church  she  continued  a  beloved  and 
worthy  member  as  long  as  she  remained  on  earth.  Her  long  and  quiet 
life  was  an  admirable  model  of  the  grace  and  humility  of  genuine  Chris- 
tianity. 


*LIFE   OF   JUDGE   ROBERTSON.  15 

that  my  father's  stock  was  Scotch,  and  my  mother's  English, 
of  each  of  which  shoots  were  transplanted,  and  probably 
about  the  same  time,  from  Scotland  and  England  to  the 
north  of  Ireland.  And  this  inference  is  rather  fortified  by 
some  vague  traditions.  I  am  also  inclined  to  believe  that 
Robertson,  the  historian,  and  my  father  were  descendants  of 
the  same  clan.  This  is  nearly  authenticated  by  a  genealogi- 
cal table  lately  sent  to  me  by  Wyndham  Robertson,  of  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  which  shows  that  my  father  was  either  a  nephew 
or  cousin  of  Robertson,  the  historian ;  and,  therefore,  as 
Patrick  Henry's  father  was  a  nephew  of  Robertson,  the  his- 
torian, Patrick  Henry  and  myself  were  of  the  same  stock.* 

The  descendants  of  my  mother's  stock  are  more  numerous 
in  the  United  States  than  those  of  my  father;  but  of  the 
identity  or  proximity  of  the  individuals  of  either  class,  I  have 
only  a  very  partial  knowledge.  I  presume  that  Genl.  James 
Robertson,  who  settled  Nashville,  and  Boiling  Robertson, 
who  represented  Orleans  in  Congress,  were,  in  some  degree, 
related  to  my  father,  and  the  Reverend  Stuart  Robinson  to 
my  mother,  f 

One  of  the  purest  and  almost  the  last  of  Kentucky's  pioneer  band,  she 
lived  through  three  generations,  and  having  outlived  the  cotemporaries  of 
her  children,  and  sighed  over  the  graves  of  most  of  the  fi  Sends  of  her  me- 
ridian sunshine,  she  stood  in  her  lingering  and  mellow  eventide,  a  lonelv 
monument  of  the  simple  graces  and  sturdy  virtues  of  a  race  and  age, 
memorable  in  the  history  of  American  progress  and  Western  civilization. 
She  saw  Kentucky  in  all  its  phases,  from  the  twinkling  light  of  its  strug- 
gling dawn  to  the  full  radiance  of  its  culminating  glorv.  And  when,  after 
an  eventful  life  of  rare  length  and  harmony,  she  had  at  last  graduallv  de- 
scended to  the  horizon  of  her  ptobationary  day,  she  sank  from  the  visions 
of  earth  as  serenely,  as  noiselesslv.  and  as  benignantlv,  as  the  setting  sun 
of  a  mild  and  cloudless  autumnal  evening.  Blessed  in  her  parting  twilight 
with  the  consoling  presence  of  a  kindred  household,  and  with  the  long 
hoped  for  privilege  of  dying  at  a  hcme  consecrated  by  64  years  of  buried 
joys  and  untold  sorrows,  she  took  her  eternal  leave  with  a  patriarch's 
blessing  on  the  land  she  had  helped  to  save  and  exalt,  and  with  thanks  to 
God  for  all  that  she  had  been  permitted  to  see,  to  do,  and  to  enjov  on 
earth.  Such  a  life  and  such  a  death  are  worthy  of  long  and  gratelul  re- 
membrance, and  especially  by  the  countless  posterity,  left  bv  this  vener- 
able decedent,  to  act  their  parts  "for  weal  or  woe"  in  the  trving  drama  in 
which  the  last  scene  of  her  long  and  useful  pilgrimage  is  just  closed  for- 
ever. 

*Brougham  was  a  nephew  of  the  same, 
tSee  S.  B. 


1 6  LIFE   OF   JUDGE   ROBERTSON. 


\Vhen  he  was  about  ten  years  old  my  father  was  left  an 
orphan  ;  and  inheriting  but  a  small  patrimony,  ho  was  bound 
to  James  Allin,  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Jouctt,  of  Lexington, 
Ky. ,  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  carpenter  and  wheelwright,  on 
Middle  river,  in  the  county  of  his  birth.  He  served  a  faith- 
ful apprenticeship,  and  obtained  a  good  Knglish  education, 
consisting  of  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  trigonometry  and 
surveying.  I  have  in  my  po-sc-^ion  a  manuscript  book  con- 
taining some  of  hi>  scholastic  exercises  in  surveying,  from 
which  it  appears  that  when  a  boy  he  had  learned  to  write 
neatly  and  legibly,  draw  accurate  diagrams,  and  solve  diffi- 
cult problems. 

My  mother  was  born  April  i^th,  1755,  on  Roanoke,  at 
the  " Hancock  Pfacf,"  or  I'otheringay,  so  named  by  her  father 
in  honor  of  Mary  (jueen  of  Scots,  to  whose  cause  he  was  a 
devoted  adherent.  In  the  tenth  year  of  her  age,  her  father 
irowned  in  New  river,  at  the  crossing  of  the  main  west- 
ern road.  The  facilities  for  scholastic  education  being  then 
very  limited,  she  was  at  school  only  six  mouths;  but  during 
that  short  pupilage  she  learned  to  read,  write  and  cipher 
quite  well.  Children  then,  and  in  that  country,  were  trained 
to  moral  and  industrious  principles  and  habits,  and  thus,  kept 
from  vicious  temptations  and  demoralizing  associations,  they 
employed  their  time  usefully,  ami  soon  acquired  proper  edu- 
cation, physical,  moral  and  intellectual.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  it  is  not  so  now  and  here,  in  this  more  luxurious  and 
nerate  a. 

Liberated  from  his  apprenticeship,  my  father  devoted  him- 
self diligently  to  his  trade  of  making  wheels  and  building 
s  in  his  native  count}',  until  about  the  year  1770,  \\hen 
he  engaged  to  build  a  framed  house  on  Roanoke,  for  William 
Madison,  father  of  George  Madison,  who  was  elected  Gov- 
ernor of  Kentucky,  and  brother  of  James  Madison,  father  of 
President  Madisow.  This  house  1  have  seen.  It  is  west  of 
the  river,  and  in  sight  of  the  house  of  my  grandmother  Rob- 
inson, which  was  on  a  mountain  elevation  on  the  east  of  the 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  I/ 

river,  and  on  the  site  of  the  brick  house  afterwards  built  by 
Hancock.  While  engaged  in  erecting  that  edifice  my  father 
became  acquainted  with  and  courted  my  mother,  and  on  the 
i8th  of  August,  1773,  they  were  married  in  Bedford  county, 
Virginia,  whither  they  and  their  bridal  party  had  to  go  to 
meet  the  Episcopal  minister,  who  would  not  go  out  of  his 
own  county  to  solemnize  marriage.  They  were  married  at 
the  house  of  Colonel  Howard,  the  father  of  Benjamin  How- 
ard, once  Governor  of  Missouri.  I  have  a  copy  of  their 
license,  dated  I7th  August,  1773.  And  Mrs.  Parker,  a  sister 
of  Gov.  Howard,  said  to  me  about  ten  years  ago,  "Sir,  I  saiv 
your  father  and  mother  married,  and  a  handsomer  couple  I  ne-rer 
sait>  stand  on  the  floor. "  And  doubtless  she  thought  so.  I 
have  a  vivid  recollection  of  each  of  them.  My  mother,  when 
in  her  girlhood,  must  have  been  beautiful,  and,  according  to 
tradition,  was  generally  considered  almost  peerless  in  per- 
sonal comeliness.  My  father,  although  only  five  feet  eight 
inches  high,  weighed  about  165  pounds,  and  was  of  perfect 
form  His  head  was  large,  his  forehead  capacious,  his  nose 
of  large  Grecian  mold,  his  complexion  fair,  his  eyes  grey, 
his 'hair  black  and  waving,  and  his  countenance  benignant 
and  luminous.  I  was  not  quite  twelve  years  old  when  he 
died.  When  he  was  forty  years  old,  he  had  become  so  cor- 
pulent as  to  weigh  240  pounds.  But  even  as  I  remember 
him  he  was  remarkably  handsome.  My  mother  was  of  me- 
dium size,  her  eyes  were  dark  hazel,  her  hair  black,  her  com- 
plexion bright,  her  features  symmetrical,  her  countenance 
mild  and  attractive,  and  altogether  she  was  one  of  the  hand- 
somest women  of  her  day  and  generation. 

After  their  marriage  my  parents  lived  with  my  maternal 
grandmother  about  a  year,  when  they  removed  to  a  farm 
purchased  by  my  father  in  "Bunker's  Bottom,"  on  New 
river,  about  twenty  miles  above  English's  Ferry,  where  my 
grandfather  was  drowned.  There  they  lived  until  the  fall  of 
the  year  1779,  when,  resolved  to  try  their  fortune  in  the 
wilds  of  the  "Dark  and  Bloody  Ground,"  they  started  with  a 


1 8  LIFE    OF    GFORGE    ROBERTSON. 

caravan  of  emigrants  for  Kentucky;  and,  after  extreme  peril 
and  privation,  they  arrived,  on  the  24th  of  December,  at 
Gordon's  Station,  about  four  miles  northeast  of  Harrodsburg. 
Detained  for  several  weeks  in  Powell's  Valley,  hunting  for 
horses  lost  by  some  of  the  company,  they  were  overtaken  by 
the  "/r.7/v/  iciittiT,"  after  which  the  impracticability  of  the 
wilderness  "trace,"  and  the  memorable  severity  of  the  weather, 
prevented  them  from  traveling  more  than  from  three  to  five 
miles. i  day.  They  were  cordially  welcomed  by  a  large  party 
of  friends,  among  whom  were  Col.  Stephen  Trigg  and  Capt. 
John  Gordon.  Hut  there  was  nothing  but  warm  and  hopeful 
hearts  to  cheer  their  advent.  There  was  neither  bread,  nor 
milk,  nor  tea,  nor  coffee,  noi  salt,  n.>r  meat,  except  scanty 
and  precarious  supplies  of  the  meat  of  poor  buffiloes  so  im- 
poverished by  the  winter  as  to  be  unable  to  get  out  of  the 
hunter'^  way.  Nevertheless  the  occasion  was  celebrated  by- 
dancing  and  festivity;  but  the  only  refreshment  was  a  little' 
parched  corn.  And  I  have  heanl  my  mother  say  that  she 
never  s;i\\  a  convivial  party  apparently  more  happy. 

My  parents  brought  with  them  their  only  children,  all 
(.laughters  —  Elizabeth,  Margaret,  and  Jane  —  the  youngest 
then  only  two  months  old.  brought  in  her  mother's  lap,  and 
the  others  carried  in  baskets  swung  on  a  horse  fastened  to 
the  tail  of  the  mare  ridden  by  their  mother.  The  winter,, 
memorable  for  the  intensity  and  unremittedness  of  the  cold, 
set  in  about  two  weeks  before  Christmas,  and  this  they  all 
encountered  without  permanent  injury.  Col.  Trigg  and 
Capt.  Gordon,  intimate  Virginian  friends  of  my  father  and 
mother,  having  preceded  them  to  Kentucky,  induced  them- 
to  follow  and  come  to  their  Station,  called  "Gordon's."  He- 
fore  his  removal,  my  father  had  bought  from  Gordon  and 
paid  him  for  400  acres  of  land,  including  the  Station,  and 
contemplated  it  as  his  home.  Hut  Gordon's  Station,  continu- 
ing to  be  occupied,  my  father  bought  from  Silas  Harlan  a 
tract  of  land  called  Harlan's  Spring,  anil  settled  on  it  during 
the  \ear  1780.  Trigg,  Gordon  and  Harlan  all  fell  in  the 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  19 

Blue  Lick  defeat,  August  igth,  1782  Gordon  left  an  infant 
son  his  only  heir,  who  could  not  convey  a  valid  title  to  the 
Station  tract.  My  father,  not  having  seen  the  land  when  he 
bought  it,  had  prudently  reserved,  in  the  written  contract  of 
sale,  the  privilege  of  taking  some  other  of  Gordon's  various 
tracts  of  land,  if,  after  inspection,  he  should  prefer  any  other. 
He,  however,  was  pleased  with  the  Station  tract,  and  brought 
a  suit  in  Chancery  against  Gordon's  heir  for  a  title  to  it;  but 
the  Assistant  Judges,  Stirling  and  George  Thompson,  dis- 
missed his  bill  only  because  my  father  had  not,  before  suit, 
made  a  formal  selection  of  the  tract  he  preferred !  Incredi- 
ble as  this  may  be,  and  discreditable,  as  it  certainly  was,  to 
the  Court,  it  is  certainly  true  I  have  seen  the  record  of  the 
suit.  And  thus  my  father  neither  got  the  land  he  bought, 
nor  any  compensation  whatever. 

During  the  "hard  winter"  my  parents  lived  in  an  open 
cabin,  without  a  chimney,  and  which  had  been  built  for  a 
smoke-house.  The  cold  was  so  severe  as  to  prevent  either 
chinking  the  cracks  or  adding  any  chimney.  I  have  heard 
my  mother  say  that  her  frozen  breath  often  made  the  hairs 
on  her  head  stand  out  as  so  many  icicles,  and  that  the  mild- 
est day  during  that  winter  was,  to  her  feelings,  the  coldest 
she  ever  felt  before  or  since.  And  I  have  heard  her  also  say 
that  their  only  food  was  green  buffalo  meat,  without  bread  or 
salt.  Nevertheless  they  enjoyed  good  health,  and  were 
happy  with  the  prospect  before  them. 

The  spring,  near  which  my  father  built  cabins  and  settled 
in  1780,  was  among  the*  largest  and  best  in  Kentucky.  It  is 
one  of  the  chief  fountains  of  "Cane  Run,"  and  is  near  the 
road  leading  from  Harrodsburg  to  McCoy's  Mill,  on  Dix 
river,  and  about  two  hundred  yards  from  the  road  from  Lex- 
ington to  Danville,  by  the  mouth  of  Dix  river. 

In  1782  my  father  built  a  framed  house  near  his  cabins. 
In  that  house,  yet  standing,  he  died  and  I  was  born.  It  was 
a  common  plank  house,  with  two  brick  chimneys,  and  three 
rooms  on  the  first  floor,  and  two  porches.  It  was,  when 


2O  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    KOP^RTSnN. 

built,  the  finest  house  in  Kentucky.  His  homestead  tract 
contained  nearly  1,000  acres,  of  which  he  cleared  and  culti- 
vated about  200  acres.  His  farm  was  beautifully  situated, 
and  he  was  a  neat  and  thrifty  farmer.  Modest  and  unambi- 
tious, he  neither  sought  nor  desired  public  position  or  em- 
ployment.  But  hi-'  exemplary  walk  and  innate  integrity  and 
amenity  made  him  a  general  favorite,  and  drew  him  reluc- 
tantly into  public  life.  He  was  a  member  of  the  first  County 
Court  of  Lincoln,  afterwards  Mercer  count}-.  He  was  e' 
a  delegate  to  the  Virginia  Convention  of  '88,  called  to  ratify 
the  Federal  Constitution,  and  also  a  member  of  tin-  Virginia 
1  -,ature  succeeding  tii  -i  of  the  Convention.  In 

Cervices  he  \\  as  kept  from  home  until  about  the  middle 
of  February,  1/89.  He  voted,  with  Patrick  Henry  ami  all 
the  Kentucky  del-  \cept  Humphrey  Marshall,  against 

the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  \Yith  my  present  light  I 
would  have  voted  for  the  ratification,  which  was  carried  by 
the  small  majority  of  only  eight  votes.  In  1592  my  father 

lected  the  fir>t  Sheriff  of  Mercer;  and  this  was  the  last 
place  of  public  trust  he  ever  held.  He  died  of  pneumonia. 
August  i  5th,  1802,  when  he  was  not  quite  54  years  old.  I 
was  then  nearly  twelve  years  old.  and  have  even  now  a  vivid 
recollection  of  him.  He  died  unexpectedly  and  intestate. 
My  mother  administered  on  his  personal  estate,  and  remained 
a  widow  until  the  fall  of  the  year  1X05,  when  she  was  mar- 
ried to  Job  Johnson,  of  Garrard,  a  Methodist,  honorable  and 
amiable,  but  considerably  inferior  to  her  in  intellect  and 
knowledge.  She  survived  her  last  husband  about  twenty 
years.  During  her  last  widowhood  she  lived  witli  her  fourth 
daughter,  Mrs.  Martha  McKee,  widow  of  Col.  Samuel  Mc- 
Kee,  and  mother  of  Col.  \Yilliam  Robertson  MeKee,  who 
fell  at  the  battle  of  Huena  Vista,  23<1  February,  1847.  Her 
residence  adjoined  Lancaster.  Crushed  by  the  death  of  her 
noble  son,  she  survived  him  only  about  a  year.  My  mother 
having,  in  the  spring  of.  the  year  1X46,  gone  to  Frankfort  on 
a  visit  to  her  youngest  daughter,  Mrs.  Charlotte  Lc  her, 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  21 

wife  of  ex  Gov.  Letcher,  there  accidentally  broke  a  limb  near 
the  hip  joint,  and  was  confined  to  her  bed  until  the  I3th  of 
June,  1846,  when  she  died  of  that  fracture,  in  the  g2d  year 
of  her  age,  and  was  buried  in  the  Frankfort  cemetery.  She 
retained  her  mental  faculties  to  the  last,  and  was  as  colloquial 
and  edifying  the  day  of  her  death  as  she  had  ever  been. 
Her  mind  was  strong  and  logical,  and  her  memory  was  accu- 
rate and  vivid ;  and  in  the  last  scene  of  her  long  earthly 
drama  she  could  recite  poetry  by  the  hour.  Her  native  ca- 
pacity was  far  above  mediocrity,  and  she  was  the  best  living 
chronicler  of  the  early  history  of  Kentucky  I  had  ever  seen. 
She  was  the  mentor  and  almost  the  idol  of  a  large  posterity. 
She  was  a  favorite  wherever  she  was  known,  and  by  all  who 
knew  her  she  was  considered  a  woman  of  exemplary  piety 
and  extraordinary  moral  harmony  and  power.  She  was  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  church,  and  left  the  scenes  of  earth 
with  placid  resignation  and  cheerful  triumph,  her  mind  full- 
orbed  and  unobscured.  Her  whole  life  and  character  prop- 
erly considered,  she  ivas  a  model  ivoinan.  * 

My  father  and  mother  had  ten  children,  five  of  each  sex. 
Two  of  the  males  died  in  infancy.  My  sister  Charlotte  and 

*Judge  Robertson,  in  his  address  on  the  first  settlement  ,-f  Kentucky, 
speaks  to  his  mother  in  the  following  words: 

"  But  among  you  here  is  one — the  lonely  trunk  of  four  generations — to 
whom  the  heart  of  filial  gratitude  and  love  must  speak  out  one  emotion  to- 
day. Venerable  and  beloved  MOTHER!  How  often  have  we  heard 
from  your  maternal  lips  the  story  of  Kentucky's  romantic  birth — of  ^the 
hard  winter  of  '79" — of  all  the  achievements  and  horrors  of  those  soul- 
rending  days! 

'•  You  have  known  this  land  in  all  its  phases.  You  have  suffered  with 
those  that  suffered  most,  and  sympathized  with  those  who  have  rejoiced 
in  well-doing  and  the  prospect  before  them.  You  have  long  survived  the 
husband,  who  came  with  you  and  stood  by  you  in  your  gloomiest,  as  well 
as  your  brightest  days,  and  has  long  slept  with  buried  children  of  your 
love.  And  now,  the  sole  survivor  of  a  large  circle  of  contemporaneous 
kindred  and  juvenile  friends — a  solitary  stock  of  three  hundred  shoots — 
with  a  mind  scarcely  impaired,  you  yet  linger  with  us  on  earth  onlv  to  thank 
Providence  for  his  bounties  and  pray  for  the  prosperity  of  your  flock  and 
the  welfare  of  the  land  you  helped  to  save  and  to  bless.  And  when  it 
shall,  at  last,  be  your  lot  to  exchange  this  Canaan  below  for  the  better 
Cannan  above,  may  you,  on  the  great  dav  of  davs.  at  the  head  of  vour  long 
line  of  posterity,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  assembled  universe,  be  able, 


22  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

myself   alone   survive  —  she   the   youngest    and    I    the    next 
youngest  of  the  ten  children. 

with  holv  jov.  to  announce  the  glad  tidings — 'Here,  Lord,  are  we  aiul  all 
the  children  th&u  hast  ever  -'iven  u>.'  " 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  23 


CHAPTER  II. 

I  was  born  in  Mercer  county,*  Ky.,  on  the  i8th  of  No- 
vember, 1790.  I  was  named  after  my  father's  elder  brother, 
George,  who  was  a  tall,  spare,  blue-eyed  man,  more  like 
Gen'l  John  Adair  than  I  ever  saw  one  man  like  another. 
The  first  incident  in  my  early  life,  which  I  remember,  is  my 
being  dressed  in  calico  slips  with  yellow  ground  and  brown 
diamonds,  when  I  was  not  more  than  two  years  old ;  and  my 
recollection  of  that  dress  is  yet  so  distinct  as  to  enable  me  to 
identify  the  calico  if  it  could  be  now  seen.  The  next  event 
in  my  youthful  days,  now  distinctly  remembered  by  me,  is 
rather  ludicrous,  though  very  near  being  tragical.  It  oc- 
curred in  the  fall  of  the  year  1793,  when  I  was  about  three 
}'ears  old.  Among  other  things,  bacon  and  cabbage  had 
been  boiled  in  a  large  pot  for  dinner.  The  kitchen  was 
about  forty  feet  from  the  dwelling  house.  My  mother, 
whom  I  had  followed  into  the  kitchen,  having  assisted  the 
cook  in  serving  up  the  dinner,  had  left  me  alone,  standing 
near  the  pot  nearly  full  of  boiling  "pot-liquor,"  and  just  as 
she  had  reached  the  vestibule  of  the  mansion, -a  large  dog, 
rushing  to  the  pot,  threw  me  into  it.  My  mother,  hearing 
the  plunge,  ran  back  in  time  to  save  me,  which  she  could 
not  have  d:>ne  had  I  not  been  clad  in  thick  woollen  cl^th. 
But  nevertheless  I  wras  so  much  scalded  as  to  leave  an  indel- 
lible  scar  on  my  back.  I  also  remember  that  sometime  in 
the  spring  of  1794  breeches  were  first  put  on  me;  and  I  shall 
never  forget  that,  preparatory  to  going  to  bed,  my  mother 
having  directed  a  servant  to  pull  off  my  pantaloons,  my  pride 
revolted  with  the  instinct  that  he  who  was  man  enough  to 
wear  breeches,  ought  to  have  manhood  enough  to  put  them 
on  and  take  them  off,  without  assistance  ;  and  that,  in  my 
solitary  effort  to  undress  I  became  so  hobbled  as  to  fall  in 

*See  Appendix  A. 


24  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


the  fire,  whereby  a  wound  was  made  on  my  forehead,  which 
is  yet  visible.  These  facts  may  not  be  universally  accredited, 
yet  they  are  chronologically  and  substantially  true 

I  was  not  sent  to  school  until  I  was  seven  years  old,  and  I 
then  for  the  first  time  learned  the  English  alphabet.  I  was 
considered  ugly  and  irascible.  My  passions  were  inordinate 
and  rather  eruptive.  But  I  was  never  wild  nor  untoward, 
nor  fond  of  juvenile  sports.  I  was  inclined,  always,  to  be  sol- 
itary, contemplative  and  taciturn.  I  was  pleased  with  study, 
learned  rapidly  at  school,  was  generally  at  the  head  of  my 
class,  and  never  was  -hastised  or  rebuked  with  censure  or 
frown  by  any  one  of  various  preceptors.  I  was,  from  my 
early  boyhood,  peculiarly  susceptible  of  the  tender  passions.' 
At  every  school  I  ever  attended  I  was  in  love.  And  it  is 
rather  singular  that  each  of  my  dulcineas  was  named  S:illy — 
Sally  McGinnis,  Silly  II.ig.Jn  and  Silly  Fry. 

My  tuition  in  primary  schools  \\as  continued  until  July, 
1804,  during  which  time  I  had  acquired  a  good  elementary 
education  in  all  the  Knglish  branches  then  taught  in  such 
schools,  including  Knglish  gram:n  ir,  which  I  had  learned 
with  a  peculiar  advantage. 

On  the  4th  of  August,  KSo4,  my  mother  sent  me  to  Joshua 
Fry  t<>  learn  Latin,  French  and  Geography,  which,  with 
other  branches,  he  was  then  teaching  on  his  farm,  five  miles 
\\  -st  of  Danville,  Ky  ,  once  owned  and  occupied  by  George 
Nicholas.  He  kept  a  large  boarding-school,  composed  of 
the  elite  of  both  sexes.  When  I  went  his  classes  were  all  in 
advance  of  where  I  was  to  begin;  and  therefore  he  could  not 
take  me  in  unless,  with  the  tutelage  of  his  son,  Dr.  John  Fry, 
then  in  his  family,  I  could  soon  overtake  his  junior  class  in 
Latin,  which  had  been  in  progress  about  eight  months. 
Hopeless  of  any  such  achievement,  I  would  have  returned 
home,  had  not  some  of  those  who  had  been  associated  with 
me  at  the  other  schools,  assured  me  and  made  a  pledge  to 
Mr.  Fry  that  I  would  overtake  the  class  in  three  months. 
On  that  assurance  I  commenced  in  the  first  Latin  Grammar 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  25 


I  had  ever  seen.  Understanding  the  English  Grammar  very 
well,  I  had  but  little  difficulty  in  committing  the  Latin,  which 
I  accomplished  in  five  days.  On  the  seventh  day  I  was 
reading  the  colloquies  of  Cordcrius,  and  after  reading  also 
Enlropins  and  Cornelius  Nepos,  I  was,  at  the  end  of  two 
months,  advanced  to  the  class  in  Caesar,  who  had  then  been 
ten  months  at  the  Latin.  When  I  joined  them  they  were  at 
the  Bridge  across  the  Rhine.  For  three  weeks  I  had  much 
difficulty  in  keeping  up.  But  after  that  probation  I  could 
progress  with  them  by  studying  not  more  than  half  my  time, 
to  employ  more  of  which  I  studied  also  Geography  and 
French ;  and,  at  the  end  of  thirteen  months  from  the  time  I 
commenced  the  Latin,  I  had  a  good  knowledge  of  geogra- 
phy, and  could  read  Latin  and  French  almost  as  well  as 
English.  Th's  rapid  progress  was  the  result  of  intense  ap- 
plication, facilitated  by  severe  mental  discipline  and  a  sort  of 
mnemonics,  which  I  had  excogitated  and  practiced  some  time 
before.  But  an  habitual  concentration,  and  a  peculiar  loca- 
tion and  association  of  objects — in  acquisitiveness,  though 
not  in  retentiveness — had  become  extraordinary,  and  in  a 
good  degree,  mechanical.  By  three  or  four  readings  I  could 
commit  almost  anything  I  read.  But  my  memory  would 
soon  lose  it.  As  an  illustration  of  this  singular  fact  I  state 
that  the  morning  before  the  day  of  a  commencement  at 
Transylvania,  I  was  requested  by  the  Academic  faculty,  for  a 
reason  I  need  not  mention,  to  commit  for  my  speech,  in  lieu 
of  one  I  had  prepared,  Major  Jackson's  eulogy  on  Washing- 
ton, occupying  about  twenty  octavo  pages  in  print.  I  did 
it,  and  the  next  day  delivered  it  verbatim,  without  a  baulk  or 
uneasy  pause.  But  a  week  afterwards  I  could  not  have  re- 
cited it  without  reading  it  over  again.  It  was  thus  that  I 
passed  Ruddiman's  Latin  Grammar  in  five  days,  and  it  was 
partly  thus,  but  chiefly  by  instructive  docility  and  intense 
and  persevering  study,  I  learned  Latin,  French  and  Geogra- 
phy, all  well,  in  thirteen  months.  I  derived  much  more  than 
ordinary  aid  also  from  my  preceptor,  who,  as  far  as  he  at- 


26  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

tempted  to  teach,  was  the  best  tutor  I  ever  knew.  He 
taught  ideas  more  than  words — things  rather  than  names. 
He  illustrated  the  rationale,  and  impressed  on  the  pupil's 
mind  the  principles  of  whatever  he  read;  and  he  required 
him  to  repeat  a  recitation  until  he  understood  it  thoroughly. 
His  discipline  also  was  rational  and  wholesome.  After  reci- 
tation the  pupil  was  free  to  go  where  he  preferred  to  go,  and 
to  study  where  and  as  he  chose;  and  in  genial  seasons  he 
rambled  over  and  studied  in  the  groves.  All  that  was  re- 
quired was  that  he  should  act  prudently  and  know  his  lessons 
when  called  to  recite.  The  mode  of  living  was  also  contie- 

o  o 

nial  with,  and  essentially  promotive  of,  physical  health  and 
mental  vigor  and  alacrity.  The  males  slept  on  straw-beds, 
ate  for  breakfast  and  supper  nothing  but  breail  and  milk,  in 
a.  peripatetic  style,  without  table  or  chair;  washed  before 
dawn,  winter  and  summer,  at  a  large  spring,  two  hundred 
yards  from  the  house;  and  recited  early  in  the  morning  my 
Latin  class,  reciting  by  candle-light  in  the  winter.  Hut  the 
exercise  of  dancing  every  evening  was  still  better  for  both 
mind  and  body.  There  were  about  twenty  girls,  all  nearly 
grown,  and  about  thirty  boys,  of  whom  I  was  among  the 
youngest.  Three  daughters  of  George  Nicholas,  Ann  Gist 
(step-daughter  of  Gen'l  Charles  Scott),  Nancy  Hirncy,  Nancy 
Warren,  and  Lucy,  Martha  and  Silly  Fry,  were  among  the 
female  pupils;  and  R.  P.  Letchcr,  John  H.  Bibb,  Samuel 
and  Nicholas  Casey,  John  Speed  Smith,  John  C.  and  Charles 
W.  Short,  and  David  C.  Cowan,  were  among  the  males. 
Lvery  secular  evenwig  we  were  called  into  a  large  saloon  to 
dance,  under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fry,  and  con- 
tinued to  dance  until  they  retired,  when  we  instantly  ad- 
journed. Thomas  \V.  Fry,  negro  Phil,  and  myself,  were  the 
musicians.  When  I  was  only  ten  years  old,  I  had  learned  to 
play  on  the  violin  well  enough  to  be  engaged  as  chief  fiddler 
at  dancing  parties,  and  in  my  early  manhood  performed  on 
the  violin  exceedingly  well.*  I  look  back  at  the  season  of 

*See  Note  C. 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  2/ 

my  pupilage  under  Mr.  Fry,  as  the  happiest  as  well  as  the 
most  eventful  portion  of  my  life.  Having  completed  my 
course  with  him  about  the  middle  of  September,  1805,  I 
went,  about  the  is*"  of  November  following,  to  Transylvania 
University,  and  boarded  on  Hill  street  with  old  Mr.  Samuel 
Price,  who  lived  in  a  large  stone  house,  on  the  site  of  Mr. 
John  G.  Allen's  present  domicil.  My  messmates  were  Rob- 
ert P.  Letcher*,  Robert  P.  Henry,  Alexander  Montgomery, 
Alexander  M.  Edmiston,  Anthony  W.  Rollins,  Robert  A. 
Sturges,  Joseph  Weisiger,  Thomas  Washington,  Andrew 

McMillan,  John  W.  Hovey,  and Denbril — all  of  whom, 

except  McMillan,  Bibb,  and  Weisiger,  are  now  (ist  August, 
1868,)  dead.  Most  of  them  became  distinguished  men. 
Montgomery,  Edmiston,  Weisiger,  Rollins,  and  McMillan, 
became  physicians,  and  most  of  them  were  eminent  in  their 
profession.  Montgomery  settled  in  Frankfort,  and  fell  in 
the  massacre  at  Raisin,  23d  January,  1813.  Edmiston  set- 
tled in  Lancaster,  Garrard  county,  Ky. ,  was  my  family  phy- 
sician, and  died  there  July  2d,  1812  Rollins  settled  in 
Richmond,  Ky. ,  and  about  the  year  1830  removed  to  Boone 
county,  Missouri,  where,  some  years  afterwards,  he  died. 
He  was  the  father  of  James  S.  Rollins,  now  of  that  county. 
Robert  P.  Henry  was  a  son  of  Gen'l  Henry,  of  Scott  county, 
Ky. ,  became  a  distinguished  lawyer  and  member  of  Congress 
from  the  Christian  District,  and  died  about  the  year  1827. 
Augustus  Henry,  of  Clarksville,  Tennessee,  was  one  of  his 
brothers.  Sturges  was  also  a  lawyer,  and  settled  in  Rich 
mond,  Ky.,  where  he  died  about  the  yAr  1827.  Weisiger 
was  a  son  of  Daniel  Weisiger,  who  built  and  for  many  years 
kept  the  "Weisiger  House"  in  Frankfort.  Dr.  W.  practiced 
his  profession  successively  at  Danville,  Ky. ,  and  now  resides 
in  Texas.  John  Speed  Smith  practiced  law,  was  a  graceful 
speaker,  succeeded  me  in  Congress  in  1821,  lived  in  Rich- 
mond, Ky. ,  and  died  in  that  neighborhood  about  the  year 
1852.  Robert  P.  Letcher  was  also  a  successful  lawyer,  set- 
tled in  Lancaster,  Ky.,  beat  and  succeeded  Smith  in  1823, 


28  I.IFK    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

continued  in  Congress  until  1835,  was  elected  Governor  of 
Kentucky  in  1840,  was  appointed  Minister  to  Mexico  by 
Gen'l  Taylor  in  1849,  anc^  died  m  Frankfort  in  1861.  Wash- 
ington was  a  lawyer  of  high  character  at  Nashville,  Tenn. 
McMillan  practiced  medicine,  with  success,  many  years  in 
Harrison  county,  Ky. ,  and  now  lives  in  retirement  in  the 
suburbs  of  Lexington.  Hovey  and  Denbril  never  studied  a 
profession,  and  died  main-  years  ago  in  St.  Louis,  where  they 
were  born.  Of  all  our  mess  Weisiger  and  myself  were  the 
youngest. 

Mr.  Price  had  five  grown  daughters,  and  two  beautiful 
daughters  of  his  son-in-law,  Gen'l  William  Russell,  staid  a 
large  portion  of  their  time  at  his  house.  Such  a  social  nu- 
cleus of  promising  young  females  and  males  attracted  to  our 
hou.-e,  very  often,  the  elite  of  the  young  of  both  sexes  of 
Lexington  and  the  neighborhood,  and  we  all  had  joyous 
times.  Often  we  danced,  I  being  general  fiddler;*  and  some- 
time-' the  fiddling  and  dancing  were  by  moonlight  on  the 
velvet  lawn  in  front  of  the  house.  I  often  revert  to  that 
period  also  as  among  the  brightest  and  most  pregnant  of  my 
life. 

I  remained  at  Transylvania  until  the  fall  of  1806,  without 
graduating.  I  would  have  been  entitled  to  a  diploma  had  I 
staid  five  months  longer,  which  I  was  importunately  urged 
to  Ho  by  the  faculty.  Hut  I  had  a  puerile  ambition  to  win 
honors  at  Princeton,  whither  my  friends  had  promised  to 
send  me.  Hut  they  failed  to  raise  the  means,  and  with  my 
departure  from  Transylvania  my  collegiate  course  ended. 

My  mother  and  sisters  having  removed  to  Garrard,  I  went 
to  Lancaster!  in  the  autumn  of  1806,  and,  soon  finding  that 
I  could  not  go  to  Princeton,  I  attended  the  Academy  at  Lan- 
caster, as  a  pupil  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Findley,  a  Presbyterian 
preacher  and  President  of  that  institution,  then  extensively 
patronized.      I  continued  that  pupilage  until  the  spring  of  the 
*See  Appendix  D. 
tSee  Appendix   B. 


t 

LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  29 

year  1807,  when  I  was  appointed  assistant  teacher,  in  which 
situation  I  continued  until  the  close  of  that  year.  The  win- 
ter of  [808  I  devoted  to  historical  and  miscellaneous  reading. 
In  April,  1808,  I  went  to  Frankfort  to  read  law  with  Gen'l 
Martin  D.  Hardin ;  but  not  being  able  to  engage  eligible 
boarding,  I  returned  to  Lancaster,  and  there  studied  law  in 
the  family  of  my  brother-in-law,  Samuel  McKee,  who  was 
then  a  member  of  Congress.  My  studies  were  solitary  and 
unassisted  by  the  instruction  or  examination  of  any  pre- 
ceptor. Frequent  conversations  with  Chief- Justice  Boyle, 
then  living  near  Lancaster,  were  serviceable  to  me ;  and  this 
was  the  chief  assistance  I  had  in  my  probationary  studies. 
In  September,  1809,  Chief-Justice  Boyle,  after  a  thorough 
examination,  signed  my  license.  The  signature  of  another 
Appellate  Judge  being  necessary,  I  went  to  Judge  Wallace, 
of  Woodford,  who  was  one  of  Boyle's  associates.  The  acci- 
dental lameness  of  my  horse  prevented  me  from  reaching  his 
house  until  Sunday  morning.  He  was  a  Presbyterian.  His 
family  were  at  breakfast  when  I  arrived  and  handed  him  an 
introductory  letter  from  Judge  Boyle,  explaining  my  object. 
Without  inviting  me  to  eat  or  sit  down,  Judge  Wallace,  with 
morose  countenance,  reprimanded  me  for  a  visit  so  inoppor- 
tune on  secular  business,  in  desecration  of  the  Sabbffh. 
Almost  petrified,  in  such  a  presence,  by  such  rebuke,  I  stood 
like  a  statue.  Mrs.  W7allace,  compassionating  my  condition, 
tried  to  relieve  me.  She  urged  me  to  eat  and  to  go  witJaJfie 
family  to  church  both  of  which  invitations  I  declinedjj^The 
September  Term  of  the  Garrard  Circuit  Court  was  tyficom- 
mence  the  next  day,  and  I  desired  then  and  there  to  make 
my  debut  by  an  address  to  the  grand  jury.  I  therefore  re- 
solved to  return  at  once  without  Judge  Wallace's  endorse- 
ment. The  family  started  to  church,  leaving  me  in  the  yard, 
and  my  horse  unfed  at  the  fence.  Judge  Wallace,  after  put- 
ting a  foot  in  his  stirrup,  returned,  and  walking  past  me  to 
his  office  in  quest  of  an  overcoat  (as  he  said),  said  to  me  as 
he  was  passing  me,  "  Where  s  your  license?"  I  handed  it  to 


3O  '  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 


him,  and,  after  going  again  to  his  office,  he  handed  it  back 
to  me  folded  up,  and,  without  uttering  a  word,  passed  on  to 
his  horse  and  rode  off,  leaving  me  alone.  I  instantly  opened 
the  paper  and  found  his  signature !  I  then  thought  that  in 
certifying,  as  he  did,  that  he  had  carefully  examined  me  and 
found  me  well  qualified,  when  he  had  refused  to  ask  one 
question  on  law,  he  had  committed  a  greater  blunder  than  he 
could  have  done  by  first  examining  me  on  the  Sabbath. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  3    I 


CHAPTER  III. 

When  I  was  licensed  to  practice  law  I  was  not  quite  nine- 
teen years  old  ;  and  I  was  certainly  crud'*  and  immature  as  a 
lawyer.      But  feeling  a  strong  desire  to  assume  the  responsi- 
bilities and  act  on  the  arena  of  manhood,    I  determined  to 
anticipate  the  growth  of  a  few  years,   and  try  my  fortune, 
however  premature  and   perilous    my   lonely  start.       I    had 
become  acquainted  with  and  engaged  to  marry  my  present 
wife,    Eleanor  James   Bainbridge,   a   daughter   of  Dr.    Peter 
Bainbridge,  of  Lancaster  (who  was  a  cousin  of  Commodore 
Bainbridge),    and    of    Eleanor    James    Mclntosh,    the    only 
daughter  of  Gen'l  Alexander  Mclntosh,  a  wealthy  planter  of 
South  Carolina.      My  wife  had  no  patrimony,  not  a  dollar. 
But  she  was  very  beautiful.      My  father's  estate  was  ample 
enough  to  have  made  all  his  children  rich ;    but  the  most  of 
it  had  been  lost  by  neglect  and  improvidence  before  I  was 
old  enough  to  attend  to  it.      I  had  received  none  of  it.      And 
although   my  brothers   and   sisters,    older   than    myself,   had 
distributed  among  themselves  considerable  portions  of  it,  and 
owed  me  as  much  as  would  have  made  me  comfortable  and 
independent,  yet  I  was  too  proud  to  ask  for,  and  they  were 
too  tenacious  to  offer  me,  anything.      All  I  ever  received  of 
my  father's  estate  was  a  horse  and   an   old  negro  woman, 
while  my  oldest  brother,  although  my  father  died  intestate, 
received  the  homestead  farm  of  about  750  acre?,  and  some 
other  property. 

Yet,  thus  juvenile,  poor,  and  proud,  I  ventured  not  only 
on  the  rather  hopeless  prospects  of  professional  life,  but,  on 
the  28th  of  November,  1809,  when  I  was  only  ten  days  over 
nineteen  years  of  age,  I  ventured  on  the  far  more  momentous 
contingencies  of  marriage,  and,  linking  my  destinies  with  a 
wife  only  fifteen  years  and  seven  months  old,  we  embarked, 


32  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

without  freight  or  pilotage,  on  the  untried  sea  of  early  mar- 
riage. I  had  never  made  a  cent,  and  had  nothing  but  ordi 
nary  clothes,  a  horse,  an  old  servant,  a  fe\v  books,  and  the 
humble  talents  with  which  God  had  blessed  me.  I  borrowed 
thirteen  dollars  as  an  outfit,  and  out  of  that  fund  I  paid  for 
my  license  and  handed  to  my  groomsman,  R.  P.  Letcher, 
five  dollars  for  paying  the  parson,  Randolph  Hall,  father  of 
Rev.  Nathan  H.  Hall.  Some  days  afterwards  Letcher  rather 
slyly  put  into  my  hand  a  dollar,  suggesting  that  hi  had  saved 
that  much  for  me  by  paying  the  preacher  only  four  dollars. 
This  looked  to  me  as  such  minute  parsimony  as  to  excite  my 
indignation,  important  as  was  only  one  dollar  then  to  me. 
And  I  manifested  that  feeling  in  a  manner  both  emphatic 
and  censorious;  to  which  Letcher  replied  that  four  dollars 
was  more  than  was  then  customary,  and  that  Mr.  Hall,  when 
he  received  it,  expressed  the  warmest  gratitude,  and  said  that, 
old  as  he  was,  he  had  never  received  so  large  a  fee  for  sol- 
emni/ing  the  matrimonial  rite!  This  reconciled  me  to  the 
return  of  the  dollar. 

My  wife  and  myself  lived  with  her  mother  until  the  Qth  of 
September,  1810,  when  we  set  up  for  ourselves  in  a  small 
buckeye  house  with  only  two  rooms,  built  and  first  occupied 
by  J11-'.-^1  Boyle,  and  respecting  which  I  may  here  su. 
this  remarkable  coincidence  of  successive  events: — That  Boyle 
commenced  housekeeping  in  that  house,  and,  while  he  occu- 
pied it,  was  elected  to  Congress;  that  Samuel  McKee  com- 
menced housekeeping  in  the  same  house,  and  succeeded 
Boyle  in  Congress;  that  I  commenced  housekeeping  in  the 
same  house,  and  succeeded  McKee  in  Congress;  and  that  R. 
P.  Letcher  commenced  housekeeping  in  the  same  house,  and. 
after  an  interval  of  two  years,  succeeded  me  in  Congress.  I 
was  unable  to  furnish  it  with  a  carpet,  and  our  only  furniture 
consisted  of  two  beds,  one  table,  one  bureau,  six  split-bot- 
tomed chairs,  and  a  small  supply  of  table  and  kitchen  furni- 
ture, which  I  bought  with  a  small  gold  watch.  I  had  bought 
a  bag  of  flour,  a  bag  of  corn  meal,  a  half  barrel  of  salt,  and 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  33 

two  hams  and  two  middlings  of  bacon ;  and  these,  together 
with  the  milk  of  a  small  cow  given  to  my  wife  by  her  mother, 
and  a  few  chickens  and  some  butter,  constituted  our  entire 
outfit  of  provisions.  But  all  our  supplies  were  stolen  the 
night  we  commenced  housekeeping.  This  was,  at  that  time, 
a  heavy  blow.  I  had  no  money;  and,  though  I  had  good 
credit,  I  resolved  not  to  buy  anything  on  credit.  And  that 
was  one  of  the  best  resolutions  I  ever  made.  It  stimulated 
my  industry  and  economy,  and  soon  secured  to  me  peace 
and  a  comfortable  sense  of  independence.  In  adhering  to 
my  privative,  but  conservative  resolve,  I  often  cut  and  car- 
ried on  my  shoulders  wood  from  a  neighboring  forest.  For 
two  years  I  did  but  little  business  in  my  profession.  I  was 
not  only  too  young  and  crude  to  expect  much,  but  I  was  too 
proud  to  seek  it  and  too  diffident  to  manage  it  in  Court  with- 
out agonizing  trepidation.  If  I  expected  to  make  an  argu- 
ment, I  could  scarcely  eat  or  sleep  for  days  preceding  the 
appointed  time.  And  I  am  satisfied  that,  had  I  not  been  a 
husband  lashed  on  by  necessity,  I  never  would  have  prac- 
ticed the  law  for  a  livelihood.  My  experience  has  convinced 
me  that,  to  assure  eminence  in  that  profession,  both  "porirty 
and  parts'  are  indispensable;  and  I  believe  that  my  poverty 
did  quite  as  much  for  me  as  my  parts.  In  addition  to  these 
drawbacks,  Mr  Gallatin,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States,  offered  me  the  appointment  of  Register  of 
the  Land  Office,  which  the  General  Government  contem- 
plated establishing  at  St.  Louis,  for  the  first  sales  of  public 
lands  in  Missouri.  Pleased  with  the  prospects  of  such  a 
position,  I  expected  to  remove  to  St.  Louis  during  the  year 
1811.  .  But  the  prospect  of  a  war  with  England,  deferred, 
from  time  to  time,  the  opening  of  the  office ;  and,  apprehen- 
sive that  it  would  not  be  opened  soon  enough  for  my  exigen- 
cies, I  determined,  in  the  winter  of  1812,  to  renounce  the 
prospective  appointment,  and  rely  altogether  on  my  profes- 
sion, on  which  all  reliance  had  been  temporarily  suspended 
by  my  temporary  purpose  of  removal  and  devotion  to  a 


34  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

different  avocation.  When  necessity  impelled  me  to  that 
resolution,  although  I  had  never  thought  Lancaster  the  most 
eligible  location,  nor  intended  to  make  it  my  permanent  resi- 
dence, I  was  too  poor  to  remove  from  my  kindred  and  the 
friends  of  my  youth ;  and  therefore  1  resolved  to  try  my 
fortune  there.  The  Garrard  Bar  was  then  very  able.  Me- 
Kee,  Owsley,  and  R.  P.  Letcher,  were  among  its  resident 
members;  and  John  Green,  Thomas  Montgomery,  Paul  I. 
Booker,  George  Walker,  Samuel  II.  Woodson,  and  occasion- 
ally John  Rowan  and  James  Haggin,  were  among  its  non- 
residents. 

Had  I  gone  to  St.  Louis,  under  the  promised  auspice-.  1 
think  it  probable  that  I  would  have  become  one  of  the  rich- 
est men  in  America;  for,  although  that  town  was  then  a 
small  village,  yet  I  had  such  prophetic  vision  of  its  destiny 
as  to  make  me  resolve,  in  the  event  of  going  there,  to  apply 
ever\-  dollar  I  could  spare  to  the  purchase  of  land  and  lots. 
and  to  hold  on  to  the  property  as  long  as  the  city  might 
grow.  But  I  am  well  satisfied  with  my  reluctant  choice. 4  I 
have  always  lived  comfortably  and  independent,  and  have 
acquired  not  only  a  rational  competency  of  estate,  but  as 
much  honest  fame  as  1  desired  or  could  have  earned  in  Mis- 
souri. I  never  craved  more  of  property  than  enough  to 
secure  to  me  and  mine  independence ;  and,  with  prudent 
limitation  of  our  wants,  a  comfortable  mediocrity  will  be  as 
much  as  needful.  He  that  cannot  be  contented  with  this 
would  be  less  tranquil  with  more,  because  his  appetite  is 
morbid  and  becomes  more  voracious  the  more  it  feeds  on. 
Nor  did  I  ever  seek  for  fortune  to  transmit  to  my  children. 
Hereditary  fortune  is  oftener  a  curse  than  a  blessing  to  its 
recipients.  The  best  and  only  reliable  capital  to  start  the 
business  of  life  on,  is  good  education,  moral  and  physical  as 
well  as  intellectual,  and  domestic  as  well  as  academic.  A 
young  man  thus  armed  will  be  almost  sure  to  cut  his  way, 
and  make  and  save  fortune  enough.  But  one  without  such 
panoply  would  scarcely  ever  make  his  own,  or  take  care  of 
patrimonial  fortune. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  35 


How  I  sustained  my  family  until  the  year  1812  I  cannot 
well  explain.  Often  how,  without  going  in  debt,  which  I 
would  not  do,  I  would  be  able  to  procure  some  necessary 
supply,  I  could  not  foresee;  but  always,  at  the  proper  time, 
Providence  provided  the  means  and  pointed  out  the  way ; 
and  I  lived  well  and  happily.  And  here  candor  requires  that 
I  should  state  that  I  indulged,  more  from  necessity  than 
taste,  some  associations  and  habits,  the  memory  of  which, 
even  yet,  subjects  me  to  self  humiliation.  Most  of  my  asso- 
ciates frequently  spent  considerable  portions  of  their  time  in 
various  games  of  cards.  Not  having  much  business  to  do,  I 
often  played  with  them,  sometimes  for  amusement,  but  gen- 
erally for  money,  honorably  to  be  won  or  lost  by  fair  play  and 
skill  alone.  I  soon  acquired  extraordinary  skill,  and,  with 
reasonable  luck,  I  was  considered  invincible  by  fair  means. 
I  never  employed  any  other  means,  and  had,  by  observation 
and  association  at  the  card  table,  become  so  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  human  nature  in  all  its  multiform  phases,  as 
to  be  able  to  prevent  my  adversaries  from  the  successful 
employment  of  dishonorable  artifice  or  other  false  means. 
While  I  was  in  the  habit  of  playing,  I  do  not  remember  that, 
in  any  one  instance,  I  ever  lost  anything.  Our  games  were 
generally  loo  and  whist,  and  the  betting  was  on  a  moderate 
scale.  I  almost  always  won  from  five  to  fifty  dollars — some- 
times more  than  fifty,  not  often  less  than  five  dollars.  I 
have  alluded  to  this  occasional  deflection  in  my  early  life  to 
explain  how,  for  the  first  three  years  of  my  marriage,  I 
maintained  my  family  without  going  in  debt.  But  while 
I  regret  the  aberration  on  account  of  its  pestilent  example,  I 
feel  no  other  cause  for  self-reproach.  I  never  cheated,  or 
dissembled,  or  did"  any  other  act  dishonorable  or  reprehensi- 
ble in  all  my  card  playing ;  and  it  not  only  kept  me  from 
starvation  or  servile  dependence,  but  made  me  practically 
acquainted  with  the  wiles  and  ways  of  men,  to  an  extent 
which  I  could  not  otherwise  have  attained. 

In  1812,  having  abandoned  my  Missouri  purpose,  and  de- 


36  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 


termined  to  rely  on  my  profession  alone,  and  not  being  able 
to  remove  from  Lancaster, :|:  where  I  had  neither  expected 
nor  desired  to  remain  long,  I  accepted  from  the  Circuit  Judge 
(Kelly),  the  office  of  Prosecuting  Attorney  for  Garrard,  and, 
devoting  myself  sedulously  to  the  law,  I  soon  received  en- 
couraging patronage,  and  was  cheered  with  assuring  proph- 
ecies of  success.  I  did  succeed.  And  it  was  not  long  before 
I  was  engaged  in  nearly  all  the  litigated  causes  near  me, 
without  ever  soliciting  employment.  I  never  encouraged  a 
litigous.  .spirt,  often  induced  antagonist  parties  to  compro- 
mise, and  oftener  induced  forbearance  in  frivolous  and  vin- 
dictive cast--,,  in  which  the  least  professional  countenance 
would  have  bred  vexatious  litigation. 

I  had  more  success  in  argument  before'  a  court  than  a  jury. 
I  never  had  much  of  the  ad  caftandnm.  I  was  quite  fluent, 
and  was  accurate  in  style  and  pronunciation.  I  relied  on 
lucid  order  and  the  logic  of  ideas  on  the  law  and  the  facts. 
I  never  wrote  out  or  committed  any  portion  of  \\  speech  at 
the  bar.  Nor  was  I  accustomed  to  take  notes  of  the  testi- 
mony; finding  that  they  confused  and  diluted  my  argument, 
I  generally  relied  altogether  on  my  memory,  which,  \\hen- 
r  it  \\as  my  sole  reliance,  never  failed  as  to  any  material 
fact  or  witness.  And  thus  retaining  all  that  was  essential, 
and  unembarrassed  by  non-essentials,  my  memory  was  more 
vivid,  my  ideas  more  consecutive  and  clear,  and  my  argu 
ment  more  vigorous,  concentrated  and  impressive.  I  was.  a 
clear,  chaste  and  ingenious  debater,  but  was  never  what  is 
generally  considered  an  orator.  1  succeeded  in  many  hope- 
less cases,  and  but  seldom  lost  a  good  one.  I  charged  low 
fees,  and  was  so  indulgent  in  the  collection  of  them  as  to  l»-e 
about  half  of  my  earnings.  I  never  deceived  a  client,  nor 
played  on  his  ignorance  or  fear  or  confidence  in  me,  to  ex- 
tort an  exorbitant  fee.  And  invariably,  when  I  had  done  a 
client's  business  without  a  special  contract,  I  charged  the 
minimum  fee  for  the  like  services.  As  early  as  1X15,  I  had, 
*See  Note  15,  Appendix. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  37 


by  study  and  practice,  become  a  good  lawyer,  and  when 
only  25  years  old,  I  thought  I  knew  more  law  than  I  think 
I  do  now  at  the  mellow  age  of  68.  This  was  not  the  effect 
of  juvenile  vanity,  so  much  as  of  comparative  ignorance  ; 
and  my  case,  in  that  respect,  is  every  man's  case  who  pro- 
gresses in  knowledge.  The  sciolist  is  dogmatic  and  vain, 
because  he  is  ignorant  of  the  vast  field  of  knowledge  unseen 
by  his  circumscribed  vision.  The  higher  he  rises  the  more 
extended  becomes  his  horizon  of  unexplored  knowledge ; 
and  the  more  he  learns  the  more  he  feels  the  insignificance 
and  uncertainty  of  all  human  knowledge,  compared  with  a 
philosophical  cyclopedia  of  universal  truth  ;  consequently  the 
more  he  knows,  the  more  he  sees  which  he  does  not 'know, 
and  his  humility  increases,  pan  passau,  with  his  progress  in 
true  science. 

I  remember  many  forensic  incidents  which  occurred  in  my 
junior  practice — some  of  them  didactic,  some  intensely  dra- 
matic, and  some  ridiculously  ludicrous — and,  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  those  who  shall  come  after  me  in  a  more  polished 
age,  I  will  here  recite  three  of  the  latter  character. 

1.  "Sheriff,"  said  the  Judge, 
"take  that  man  to  the  stocks  and  keep  him  there  till  the 
further  order  of  the  Court."      "There's  no  stocks,"  replied 
the  Sheriff.      "Then,"  rejoined  the  Judge,  "I  see  a  new  fence 
near  the  door ;    take  him  there,  raise  some  of  the  rails  and 
put  his  neck  between  them."     The  Sheriff  executed  the  last 
order ;    and  the  rails,  being  new  and  large,  choked  the  man 
until  the  Sheriff,  thinking  he  was  dying,  ran  into  Court,  and, 
acquainting  the  Court  with  the  alarming  fact,  was  directed  to 
take  the  man  out.      When  the  Sheriff  extricated  him  he  was 
breathless  and  blue,  and  was  not  revived  for  some  time,  but, 
as  soon  as  he  could  speak,  swore  that  it  was  the  last  time  he 
would  be  guilty  of  contempt.      Of  that  scene  I  was  not  a 
spectator,  but  the  facts  are  well  authenticated. 

2.  I  was  at  the  first  Circuit  Court  holden  in   Mount  Ver- 
non,    Rockcastle   county.      There   was   no   court-house.      A 


38  LIFE  OF  GFORGE  ROBERTSON. 

large  log-house  (Langford's),  without  any  opening,  for  ven- 
tilation, except  a  door  and  a  small  window  on  the  same  side, 
was  fitted  for  the  temporary  use  of  the  Court,  by  a  high 
bench  for  the  Judge  to  sit  on,  and  a  lower  one  to  rest  his 
feet  on,  each  made  of  the  'half  of  a  green  poplar  tree,  split 
for  the  occasion.  The  first  day  of  the  term  was  an  exceed- 
ingly hot  one  in  August ;  and  a  large  crowd  of  men,  women 
and  children  having  come,  in  their  mountain  habiliments,  to 
see  the  first  Court  ever  opened  in  that  quarter  of  the  State, 
the  court-room  was  full  of  humanity  and  human  odor,  with 
scarcely  more  vital  atmosphere  than  the  "black  hole  of  Cal- 
cutta." Judge  Kelly  had  taken  some  mint  punch,  and  was 
very  much  annoyed  by  heat,  stench  and  noise.  Henry  Hu- 
ford,  the  Clerk,  was  fond  of  a  dram,  and  had  taken  a  little 
too  much.  He  -vit  at  a  square  table  in  front  of  the  Judge. 
In  the  evening,  when  the  Judge  had  become  impatient  and 
irascible,  a  large  fat  man.  named  Spencer,  dressed  in  leather 
hunting  shirt,  breeche^  and  moccasins,  with  a  butcher's  knife 
at  his  side,  disturbed  the  Court  by  obstreperous  cursing  near 
the  door.  The  Sheriff,  having  brought  him  into  Court 
drunk,  the  Judge  fined  him  five  shillings  for  being  drunk. 
He  pulled  out  a  long  and  greasy  leather  purse,  full  of  silver 
dollars.  The  attention  of  the  entire  croud  was  attracted  by 
the  novel  scene,  and  perfect  silence  prevailed  during  the 
whole  drama.  After  repeated  efforts  to  untie  the  purse, 
Spencer  carefully  picked  out  a  dollar  and  tendered  it  to  the 
Clerk,  saying,  "There,  Harry,  give  me  my  change."  The 
Clerk  having  refused  to  take  the  money,  Spencer,  drunk  as 
he  was,  crawled  up  to  the  Judge,  and,  holding  the  dollar 
between  his  fingers,  said,  "Here,  Mr.  Kelly,  is  your  money; 
take  your  pay  and  give  me  my  change."  The  Judge,  re- 
buking him,  told  him  that  it  was  not  his  money,  and  he 
would  not  change  his  dollar.  Thereupon  Spencer  dc  ibcr- 
ately  replaced  his  dollar  in  his  purse,  which  having  slowly 
tied,  he  marched  out  through  the  crowd  with  a  triumphant 
and  defiant  port,  ejaculating,  "The  poorest  Court  /rzrrseed 
— can't  change  a  dollar!" 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  39 

3.  Many  years  after  the  foregoing  scene,  another  Judge 
of  the  same  Court,  arriving  through  mud  and  rain  the  first 
day  of  a  term,  took  the  bench  wet  and  chilled,  and  in  a  mood 
not  altogether  pleasant.  The  crowd  in  and  out  of  the  court 
house  was  large,  and  disturbed  the  Court  by  noise.  A  jack 
led  around  the  court-house  aggravated  the  disturbance,  and 
the  Judge  had  ordered  it  to  be  removed.  The  order  not 
being  promptly  obeyed,  the  jack  continued  for  sometime  to 
bray  near  the  court-house.  Just  at  that  time  a  man  was 
heard  cursing  loud  at  the  door,  who,  being  brought  in  for 
contempt,  was  fined.  He  then,  in  a  suppliant  tone,  assured 
the  Court  that  he  had  intended  no  contempt,  and  in  response 
to  the  question,  "Why  were  you  swearing  so  loud  at  the 
door?"  said,  "Judge,  a  man  was  showing  a  little  jackass 
around  the  court-house,  and  the  jack  was  braying  so  that 
nobody  could  hear  nothing  else,  and  the  Court  couldn't  do 
no  business,  and  I  jest  said,  Goddamn  tliat  jack. "  The  Judge, 
rising  with  sympathetic  indignation,  said  to  the  Clerk,  "Re- 
mit that  fine;  I  say  damn  the  jack  too." 

When  I  was  engaged  as  prosecuting  attorney,  an  unusual 
quantity  of  indictments  were  filed  for  misdemeanors  and 
crimes,  principally  in  the  county  of  Knox,  one  of  which  I 
may  be  permitted  to  mention  with  emphasis,  on  the  last  day 
of  the  Knox  February  term,  and  after  the  Grand  Jury  had 
been  adjourned,  two  twin  brothers  from  North  Carolina, 
passing  through  to  Indiana,  and  genteelly  clad,  were  brought 
into  Court  on  the  charge  of  larceny  at  Cheek's  public  house, 
on  the  high  road,  a  special  Grand  Jury  was  summoned  and 
found  true  bills  against  both  of  them,  each  of  whom  was 
thereupon  tried,  convicted  and  sentenced  to  confinement  in 
the  Penitentiary,  and  before  sundown  that  same  day  they 
were  both  on  their  way  to  the  place  of  punishment.  This 
remarkable  case  may  illustrate  the  dispatch  and  fidelity  of  the 
public  functionaries  of  that  day  in  the  mountains  of  Ken- 
tucky. 

I  resided  in  the  house  I  first  occupied  only  three  months. 


4O  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


I  removed  to  a  framed  house  with  two  rooms,  called  the  tan- 
yard  place,  improved  by  Col.  Yantis.  There  my  oldest 
child,  Margaret  Eliza,  was  born  January  25th,  1.811.  She 
was  born  apparently  dead.  \Ye  named  her  after  my  mother 
and  my  wife's  sister,  Shackleford.  She  was  married  to  Will- 
iam  S.  Buford,  when  she  was  only  about  three  months  over 
seventeen  years  of  age.  She  is  still  living,  the  mother  of 
nine  children,  is  also  a  grandmother,  and  is  on-ly  about  twenty 
year-  younger  than  her  father. 

In  the  summer  of  the  year  181  I  I  removed  to  a  log  house 
on  the  Danville  street,  adjoining  a  framed  house  on  the 
southwest  corner  of  the  public  square.  There  my  daughter, 
Eleanor  Mclntosh,  was  born  January  2Sth,  iSi^  and  was 
named  after  her  maternal  grandmother.  She  was  married  to 
Dr.  S.imuel  M.  Letcher,  is  the  mother  of  seven  children,  and 
now  lives  near  me  in  Lexington. 

About  a  year  before  her  birth,  finding-  that  I  wasted  small 
sums  of  money  which  I  thought  I  might  prudently  save,  I 
cut  a  hole  in  the  top  of  a  closed  cigar  box,  and  determined 
to  put  into  it  every  piece  of  silver  I  could  from  time  to  time 
spare,  for  one  year,  for  the  purpose  of  saving  all  I  could 
without  mean  self-denial.  At  the  end  of  the  experimental 
year,  supposing  that  I  had  not  saved  more  than  about  fifty 
dollars,  I  opened  the  box  and  was  agreeably  surprised  when 
I  found  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  not  one  cent  of  which 
would  I  have  saved  had  I  not  resorted  to  that  expedient. 
With  this  discovery  I  felt  quite  rich;  and,  to  avoid  a  waste, 
I  immediately  invested  the  fund  in  a  new  brick  house  on  the 
north  side  of  Danville  street,  to  which  I  removed  in  April, 
1813,  and  where  I  lived  nine  years.  There  my  daughters, 
M.uy  Oden  Eppes  and  Charlotte  Corday,  and  my  son,  Alex- 
ander Hamilton,  were  born — the  first,  May  the  5th,  1815; 
the  second,  June  the  I4th,  1817;  and  the  last.  March  the 
1 7th,  . 

Not  long  after  I  became  a  freeholder  I  abstained  more  and 
more  from  card  playing  for  money,  until  about  the  year 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  4  I 


1821,  when  I  quit  it  altogether.  As  long  as  I  continued  to 
play,  I  was  inflexibly  abstemious,  and  acquired  no  other  bad 
habit  or  taste  from  improper  associations.  When  I  was  not 
more  than  eight  years  old  I  had  been  so  much  tempted  with 
intoxicating  liquors  used  almost  daily  by  company  at  my 
father's,  as  to  fear  that  my  appetite  ha(^  become  morbid ;  and 
convinced  that  if  I  persisted  much  longer  in  the  indulgence 
of  it  I  could  never  be  a  proper  man,  I  resolved  to  try  the  ex- 
periment of  total  abstinence.  But  fearing  that  I  could  not 
adhere  to  a  resolution  never  to  drink,  and  even  then  feeling 
that  to  break  a  mental  pledge  would  impair  the  efficacy  of  a 
re-resolve,  I  determined  not  to  taste  for  one  month.  This, 
through  great  temptation  arid  tribulation,  I  completely  ful- 
filled. But  it  was  a  sort  of  experimentum  cnicis.  My  self- 
complacency  at  my  triumph  more  than  compensated  for  all 
the  privation  and  agony  of  the  fearful  ordeal.  When  my 
month  was  out  I  did  not,  as  most  boys  and  even  men  would 
have  done,  drink  a  drop,  but,  concluding  that  as  I  succeeded 
once,  I  could  more  easily  and  certainly  succeed  again.  I 
continued  tetotalism  from  month  to  month  for  more  than  a 
year  before  my  appetite  was  entirely  subdued.  For  several 
years  afterwards  I  tasted  no  intoxicating  drink,  and  can  truly 
say  that,  although  in  my  public  life  I  have  been  in  many 
convivial  parties  where  others  became  inebriated,  yet  I  was 
never  drunk  in  my  whole  life.  I  never  allowed  myself  to 
pass  the  limit  of  pleasant  exhilaration  and  perfect  self-posses- 
sion. 

In  1814  I  was  appointed  principal  assessor  of  the  Federal 
direct  tax  for  my.  Congressional  district.  The  duties  of  that 
office  engaged  a  large  portion  of  my  time  for  about  a  year, 
and  enabled  me  to  make  nearly  twelve  hundred  dollars,  and 
extend  my  acquaintance  with  the  people  of  the  district.  The 
manner  in  which  I  fulfilled  the  trust  and  mixed  with  the  peo- 
ple in  a  candid,  upright  and  affable  spirit,  commended  me  to 
their  approval  and  favorable  consideration.  I  also  argued 
causes  at  the  bar.  In  1815  I  appeared  in  the  Mercer  Circuit 


LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


Court  for  the  first  time  as  sole  counsel  for  Gen'l  Thomas 
Kennedy,  in  an  action  of  detinue  brought  against  him  by 
Edward  Worthington,  for  about  fifty  valuable  slaves.  Row- 
an, James  Haggin,  and  several  other  distinguished  counsel, 
appeared  for  Worthington.  I  had  confidence  in  my  case, 
which  turned,  as  I  thought,  on  the  legal  question  whether 
an  oral  gift  to  Airs.  Worthington  in  Virginia  since  1758,  and 
when  she  was  an  infant  in  the  family  of  her  father,  under 
whose  transfer  Gen'l  Kennedy  claimed  the  descendants  of  a 
female  slave  so  given  to  the  child,  was  valid  against  bone  fide 
purchasers  from  her  father.  Being  comparatively  young,  at 
a  strange  and  celebrated  bar,  and  standing  alone  against  such 
an  array  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  in  Kentucky,  and 
in  a  cause  >o  important,  I  advised  my  wealthy  client  to  em- 
ploy some  assistant  counsel.  But  having  been  successful  for 
him  in  other  cases,  he  ignorantly  thought  that  I  could  not 
fail  in  a  good  cause,  and  iconld  stake  his  fifty  slaves  on  me 
alone.  When  the  Plaintiff  closed  his  evidence  I  moved  for  a 
non-suit,  which  motion,  after  elaborate  argument,  was  sus- 
tained by  Judge  Kelly,  who,  although  a  brother-in-law  and 
admirer  of  Rowan,  was  also  my  friend,  and  firm  and  impar- 
tial in  his  judgments.  My  argument  and  success  in  that  case 
gave  me  great  eclat  and  more  reputation  than  I  deserved. 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  43 


CHAPTER  IV. 

As  early  as  the  close  of  the  year  1815,  when  I  was  only 
about  25  years  of  age,  I  had,  through  my  little  office  and  my 
profession,  become  a  rather  conspicuous  favorite  in  my  Con- 
gressional distiict.  In  the  spring  of  1816,  the  only  news- 
paper in  the  district — the  Luminary — announced  that  McKee 
would  not  be  a*  candidate  for  re-election,  and  that  I  was  a 
candidate  to  succeed  him.  I  never  could  ascertain  why  or 
at  whose  instance  that  announcement  had  been  made.  Mc- 
Kee, who  was  my  brother-in-law,  had  not  declined,  though 
he  had  been  talking  about  a  purpose  to  do  so,  and  I  had 
never  thought  of  being  a  candidate.  Having  just  then  ob- 
tained an  extensive  practice,  and  being  poor  and  the  father 
of  three  children,  I  had  no  political  aspirations,  and  felt  that 
to  quit  my  practice,  just  become  profitable  and  promising, 
and  embark  on  the  sea  of  political  life,  would  be  premature 
and  inexcusably  unjust  to  my  dependent  and  growing  family. 
Under  the  influence  of  that  sentiment,  strengthened  by  sur- 
prise and  mortification  at  a  publication  so  unauthorized,  so 
unexpected,  and  so  unwelcome,  I  resolved  to  contradict  the 
announcement ;  but  McKee  and  other  friends  advised  me  to 
await  some  spontaneous  development  of  public  opinion.  I 
soon  discovered  that  my  supposed  candidacy  was  favorably 
received,  and'  that  I  could  probably  be  elected.  I  then  con- 
cluded to  let  the  people  use  me  as  a  candidate,  resolving,  as 
I  thought  I  did  inflexibly,  that,  if  elected,  I  would  serve  only 
one  term,  and  employ  no  electioneering  means  of  conciliat- 
ing popular  favor. 


44  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


In  a  short  time  Gen.  Robert  B.  McAfee,  Governor  Slaugh- 
ter, Col.  George  C.  Thompson,  all  of  Mercer,  and  Gen. 
Samuel  South,  Major  Robert  Caldwcll,  and  John  Speed 
Smith,  all  of  Madison,  were  also  announced  as  candidates. 
After  feeling  the  popular  pulse,  all  of  these  competitors,  ex- 
cept Cakhvell  and  Smith,  declined;  and  Smith  also  declined 
about  two  months  before  the  election,  leaving  the  track  to 
Cakhvell  and  myself,  who  ran  the  race  alone,  and  which 
resulted  in  my  election  by  a  majority  of  1,036  votes.  At 
Harrodsburg  alone  I  received,  on  the  first  of  the  three  days 
election,  about  I,OOO  votes,  which  was  the  best  vote  ever 
given  there  for  any  candidate  before  or  since.  And  in  my 
own  county  of  Garrard  1  lost  only  62  votes  during  the  entire 
election. 

During  the  whole  canvass  I  drank  nothing  intoxicating 
myself,  and  was  opposed  in  principle  to  the  use  of  any  such 
prostituting  argument  for  aiding  my  election.  I  told  the 
people  so  in  my  public  addresses,  in  which  I  was,  in  all  re- 
spects perfectly  candid.  I  did  not  desire  success  otherwise 
than  by  a  spontaneous  preference  of  me,  after  as  full  an  ex- 
hibition of  my  principles  and  character  as  I  could  afford  to 
the  electors.  To  have  succeeded  on  any  other  ground  would 
have  been  to  me  not  an  honorable,  but  humiliating,  triumph. 
Consequently,  although  the  political  obligation  of  popular 
instructions  was  the  current  and  apparently  universal  doc- 
trine, and  no  inquiry  was  made  of  me  concerning  it,  never- 
theless I  felt  it  my  duty  to  tell  the  people  that  I  did  not 
recognize  that  doctrine,  and  that,  if  elected,  I  would,  with 
proper  respect  for  public  opinion,  always  act  on  my  own 
judgment  of  my  duty  to  my  whole  country,  and  on  my 
whole  responsibility,  representative,  personal,  and  constitu- 
tional. And  while  my  prudent  and  more  diplomatic  friends 
expostulated  and  argued  that  I  would  gratuitously  commit 
suicide  by  advocating  an  unpopular  doctrine,  which  no  other 
person  agitated,  I  continued  to  discuss  it,  because  I  was  un- 
willing to  be  elected  without  showing  a  full  hand.  And  the 


LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  45 

result  proved  that  the  truth,  properly  defended,  will,  sooner  or 
later,  be  indorsed  by  the  people,  and  will  never  long  injure 
its  firm,  candid,  and  competent  champion.  In  all  my  elec- 
tions to  Congress  and  the  State  Legislature  I  never  used 
money  or  liquor  to  procure  votes ;  nor  did  I  ever  conceal  or 
dissemble  an  opinion  to  conciliate  opposition.  I  never  re- 
sorted to  any  species  of  artifice  or  electioneering  otherwise 
than  by  what  little  intrinsic  strength  I  possessed  and  the 
power  of  my  principles.  I  never,  at  the  polls  or  in  a  deliber- 
ate assembly,  gave  a  vote  on  any  other  ground  than  principle ; 
therefore,  had  I  the  power,  I  would  not  change  a  vote  I  ever 
gave.  Consequently  I  never  felt  any  embarrassment  or  per- 
turbation in  the  discharge  of  my  public  duties,  and  was  never 
disturbed  by  any  fear  of.  responsibility.  My  controlling 
maxim  was  "better  to  be  right  even  at  the  cost  of  temporary 
ostracism,  than  to  be  President  at  the  expense  of  hypocrisy, 
felt  error,  or  remorse  of  conscience. "  And  now,  for  the 
encouragement  of  others,  I  am  pleased  to  say  that  I  never 
suffered  in  public  opinion  or  incurred  reproach  for  any  vote  I 
ever  gave. 

In  my  first  canvass  for  Congress  an  incident  occurred,  both 
ludicrous  and  memorable,  which  I  may,  without  impropriety, 
here  record.  Clay  county,  on  the  frontier  of  my  district,  in- 
cluded all  the  Cumberland  mountain  territory  now  in  that 
county  and  the  counties  of  Harlan,  Letcher,  Perry,  Owsley, 
and  Breathitt.  My  first  visit  to  that  county  was  in  June, 
about  six  weeks  before  the  election.  I  reached  Manchester 
late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  first  day  of  a  Circuit  Court.  I 
was  surprised  to  see  a  crowd  of  nearly  two  thousand  men, 
women  and  children,  who  had  congregated  from  all  parts  cf 
the  county  to  see  Court,  which  many  of  them  had  never  seen 
before.  I  had  never  before  seen  more  than  a  dozen  of  the 
voters  of  the  county.  Caldwell  and  Smith  were  both  well 
acquainted  there,  and  were  popular;  and  eax:h  of  them  used 
money  and  whisky  without  stint.  Finding  the  vast  crowd 
clamorously  shouting,  some  for  Caldwell,  some  for  Smith, 


46  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

and  none  for  me,  I  regretted  that  I  was  there.  \Yithout 
speaking  to  any  person,  I  retired  to  a  shed  of  the  cabin 
tavern,  and  there  remained  sleepless  all  night.  Ruminating 
on  what  I  should  do  to  initiate  an  acquaintance  with  the  sov- 
ereigns of  the  mountains,  I  concluded  to  make  a  public  ad- 
dress to  them ;  but  I  was  perplexed  as  to  the  character  of 
the  speech  best  adapted  to  such  an  auditory.  Hefore  I  left 
my  room  next  morning  I  had  moulded  the  substance  of  my 
speech,  and  when  Court  was  about  to  sit  I  was  politely  ten- 
de-red  by  the  Judge  the  use  of  the  court-yard,  and  the  Sheriff 
having  made  proclamation  of  my  purpose,  a  vast  crowd  >»<>n 
surrounded  me  and  listened  with  great  respect  and  interest 
to  my  speech,  which  happened  to  hit  the  nail  right  on  the 
head.  I  never  made  a  speech  so  universally  satisfactory  and 
effectual.  I  was  greeted  with  obstreperous  applause,  and 
the  people  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes  sought  introductions  to 
me.  and  followed  me  with  shouts  and  pledges  of  their  sup- 
port. This  result  was  so  unexpected  as  to  make  me  feel 
much  self-Complacency.  Hut,  apprehending  that  the  favor- 
able impression  I  had  made  would  be  transient  and  be  soon 
ome  by  other  influences,  I  had  no  expectation  that, 
without  organi/.ation  or  money,  I  would  receive  many  \ 
I  intended  instantly  to  leave  for  home  not  to  return;  and, 
full  of  gratification  for  the  first  fruits  of  my  hopeless  visit  as 
a  stranger,  I  started  for  the  tavern  to  pay  my  bill  and  order 
my  horse,  but,  attracted  by  an  immense  circle  of  men  and 
women,  I  paused,  on  my  way,  to  see  what  they  were  doing; 
and,  finding  that  persons  were  dancing  within  the  ring,  I 
I  pressed  through  to  the  inner  edge  of  the  circle,  and  saw  a 
man  dancing  a  solo  to  the  fiddle  of  a  small  man,  half  Indian, 
named  Siscwon\  who  had  come  from  Lee  county,  in  Vir- 
ginia, to  play  for  the  occasion.  I  observed  that  the  dancer 
had  on  an  old  iron  spur,  and  that  when  he  had  finished  his 
part  in  the  novel  drama,  his  successor  put  on  the  same  spur. 
The  reason  of  this  I  did  not  inquire,  but  presumed  that  it 
was  to  show  the  superior  skill  of  the  dancer.  While  I  was 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  47 


thus  enjoying  the  strange  scene  as  a  spectator,  I   observed 
men  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  circle  engaged  in  conversa- 
tion  and  looking  toward   and   pointing   at   me.      I   at   once 
thought  that  some  person  had  told  them  that  I  performed 
admirably  on  the  violin,  and  that  they  were  consulting  about 
inviting  me  to  give  them  a  sample  of  my  music.      I  was  not 
mistaken.       They  approached   me,    and,    bo\ving,    said    that 
having  heard  that  I   was   the  greatest  fiddler  in  the  world, 
they  requested  me  to  play  a  tune.     Anticipating  their  object 
before  they  saluted  me,  I  had  resolved  to  comply  with  their 
request  with  apparent  alacrity ;   for,  although  it  was  almost 
crucifixion  to  be  placed  in  such  a  position — a  candidate  for 
Congress  fiddling  in  the  street  for  such  a  multitude — yet  I 
knew  that  refusal  would  be  ascribed  by  them  to  aristocratic 
pride,  and  seal  my   destiny   in   the  mountains ;  and,  feeling 
that    reluctant  compliance    would    be    unsatisfactory,    I    de- 
termined to  make  the  effort  without  hesitancy  and  with  all 
possible  grace.      I  therefore  instantly  responded  that  I  could 
not  equal   their  Virginia  musician,    but  that  I  would,   with 
pleasure,   do  the  best   I   could.      Sisemore  played  unusually 
well  for  such  an  occasion  ;   and,  although  with  a  good  violin 
and  at  a  suitable  place,  I  could  then  play  exceedingly  well,  I 
apprehended  that,  there  in  the  open  air,  on  a  "racked  fiddle 
I   had  never  touched,  and   in  such  a  presence,  I    would  not 
please  the   expectant    crowd    as    well    as    Sisemore;    conse- 
quently, knowing  how  much  depended  on  my  performance, 
I    took   his  backwoods   fiddle   and  tuned    it    with    as    much 
tremulous  anxiety  as  Wellington   when  he   commenced   the 
battle  of  Waterloo.      They  requested  an  old  Virginia  reel, 
which  was  one  of  my  favorites.      I  did  my  best,  and  played 
the  tune  with  variations  in  such  a  style  as  to  transport,  with 
obstreperous  joy,  the  whole  crowd.       Sisemore  was  kicked 
out,  and  told  that  he  was  no  fiddler.      The  people  were  so 
spell-bound  as  to  detain  me,  vi  ct  annis,  for  two  days  and 
nights.      They  all  declared  that  I  sliould  be  elected,  and  some 
of  the  men  swore  that  they  would  go  with  me  to  Washing- 
ton just  to  hear  and  dance  after  my  music  on  the  way. 


48  LIFE    OF    GEORGE 


Kmnvin^  the  popularity  and  appliances  of  my  competitors, 
I  expected  that  the  good  impressions  my  speech  and  music 
had  made  would  be  fugitive,  and  soon  give  way  to  other  in- 
fluences. This  was  my  first  and  last  visit  to  Clay.  I  left 
not  a  dollar,  and  made  no  arrangements  for  organi/ing  and 
bringing  voters  to  the  polls  Smith  declined,  and  Major 
Caldwell  and  myself  ran  the  race  out  alone.  I  received 
about  800  votes,  and  Caldwell  only  about  70. 

In  the  canvass  and  election,  I  did  not  spend  a  dollar,  ex- 
cept for  a  printed  circular  and  traveling  expenses,  which 
altogether  did  not  amount  to  fifty  dollars!  I  had  no  money 
to  waste,  and,  if  I  had  been  as" rich  as  Astor  or  Girard,  op- 
posed in  principle  to  the  prostitution  of  the  elective  franchise, 
I  would  not,  •  my  election,  h.ive  applied,  directly  or 

indirectly,  one  cent  to  bribery.  In  all  my  addresses  I  told 
the  people  so.  And  this,  in  my  judgment,  helped  much 
more  than  it  hurt  me. 

When  I  received  the  certificate  of  my  election  I  was  not 
twenty  six  ye.irs  old;  but  I  did  not  take  my  seat  until  I  was 
about  ten  days  over  twenty-seven.  The  best  mode  of  travel- 
ing then  was  on  hop-eb  ick  ;  and  I  thus  went  to  Washington 
in  November,  1817.  and  also  in  iSiS,  and  consumed  nine- 
teen days  in  the  first,  ami  seventeen  days  in  the  latter  trip. 
Mi-mbers  of  Com-ress  then  earned  their  allowance  of  three 
dollars  for  every  twenty  miles  of  a  travel,  which  was  com- 
paritively  tedious,  toilsome,  and  expensive.  And  I  will 
here  mention  an  incident  in  my  first  trip  to  Washington, 
which  may  be  as  useful  as  it  is  incredible:  I  bought  a  bi< 
thive-\var  old  horse  for  my  first  journey  to  the  National  Cap- 
ital. He  had  never  been  shod.  An  old  friend  in  Garrard 
(Klijah  Hyatt),  who  was  famous  for  both  skill  and  care  in 
the  management  of  hor>es.  took  my  young  horse  and  pre- 
pared him  for  the  work  before  him.  The  day  before  I 
started  for  my  destination,  he  selected  the  iron  and  the 
slioes,  saw  the  shoes  put  on  and  every  nail  mule  and  driven; 
and  when  he  brought  the  horse  to  me,  he  said,  "Now, 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  49 

George,  all's  right ;  your  horse  will  carry  you  over  .the  long 
and  rocky  road  to  Washington  without  breaking  a  shoe  or 
loosening  a  nail."  And  so  it  turned  out.  Several  gentlemen 
who  accompanied  me  frequently  had  their  horses'  shoes  re- 
moved or  repaired,  and  mine  reached  Washington  with  his 
shoes  apparently  as  sound  and  firm  as  when  I  .'started.  I 
sent  him  to  the  country  to  be  kept  during  the  session,  which 
continued  about  seven  months.  He  was  brought  in  to  me 
the  day  I  left  for  home,  and  the  keeper  told  me  he  had  used 
him  as  his  saddle  horse,  and  never  had  touched  his  shoes, 
which  appeared  as  good  as  ever  Being  impatient  to  start, 
I  did  not  have  them  examined,  but  rode  him  as  he  was  to 
Wheeling,  brought  him  to  Maysville  on  a  flatboat  or  ark, 
and  rode  him  thence  to  Lancaster;  and  when  I  reached 
home  his  hoofs  and  shoes  seemed  to  be  in  good  condition ! 
During  the  session  of  the  Kentucky  Legislature,  com- 
mencing the  first  Monday  in  December,  1816,  a  resolution 
passed  the  House  of  Representatives  for  a  new  election  of 
Governor  over  the  head  of  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  whose 
term  of  four  years  had  just  commenced.  This  led  to  a  pop- 
ular excitement  which  agitated  the  State  almost  to  revolution 
for  more  than  a  year.  In  the  summer  of  1817  I  wrote  an 
argument  against  a  new  election,  over  the  signature  of  "A 
Koitiickian,"  which  the  sympathizing  party  had  published 
and  extensively  circulated  in  pamphlet  form.  It  turned  the 
tide,  and  gave  me  a  very  high  character,  much  beyond  my 
deserts.  Thus  I  took  my  seat  the  first  Monday  in  De- 
cember, 1817,  under  auspices  peculiarly  encouraging.  I  was 
put  on  the  Committee  of  Internal  Improvement,  then  one  of 
the  most  important,  especially  as  the  President  (Monroe) 
had,  in  his  first  message,  attempted  to  forestall  Congress  by 
an  argument  against  the  constitutionality  of  congressional 
appropriations  for  national  improvements.  Gen'l  Tucker,  of 
Virginia,  was  chairman,  and  Henry  Storrs  and  Gen'l  Tal- 
madge,  of  New  York,  were  associate  members  of  the  com- 
mittee.  We  were  unanimously  of  the  opinion  that  the 
3 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


President  was  wrong,  and  so  reported.  But,  as  strict  con- 
structionism prevailed  in  Virginia,  our  chairman,  who  wrote 
an  elaborate  report,  argued  only  to  prove  the  power  with 
the  consent  of  the  States  !  The  other  members  of  the  com- 
mittee thought  that,  if  the  Constitution  did  not  confer  the 
power,  the  States  could  not.  But,  to  go  with  their  chair- 
man, they  consented  to  his  report  as  far  as  it  went,  reserv- 
ing the  right  to  urge,  in  oral  argument,  the  itJiconditional 
power.  The  chairman  opened  the  debate  on  the  report. 
It  was  expected  that  P.  P.  Barbour,  of  Virginia,  would  re- 
ply, and,  by  the  arrangement  of  the  committee,  I  was  to 
answer  Jihn.  As  I  was  the  youngest  member  in  the  H  3user 
and  had  this  herculean  duty  devolved  on  me  before  I  had 
made  my  debut,  I  prepared  a  written  speech,  moulded  for 
such  additions  as  the  occasion  might  suggest  Mr.  Clay 
read  and  extolled  it.  It  contained  all  the  substantial  argu- 
ments ever  since  made  in  favor  of  the  power.  But  it  was 
never  delivered.  When  Gen'l  Tucker  closed  his  opening 
speech,  and  Barbour,  as  expected,  was  taking  the  floor, 
Mr.  Clay  rose  and  challenged  him  to  a  single  combat ;  and 
consequently  when  Barbour  closed,  the  committee  yielded  the 
immediate  rejoinder  to  Mr.  Clay,  who,  therefore,  followed 
him  and  anticipated  so  many  of  my  arguments  as  to  preclude 
me  from  then  speaking  with  proper  respect  for  the  House  or 
myself.  A  protracted  debate  ensued.  While  it  continued 
I  was  frequently  urged  to  speak,  and  every  day  took  the  floor 
for  that  purpose ;  but  some  bolder  and  more  practical  de- 
bater always  got  the  start  of  me,  until  I  felt  that  it  was  too- 
late  for  me  to  speak  to  reluctant  ears.  I  retained  the  draft 
of  that  projected  'speech  until  lately,  and,  by  comparing  it 
with  all  that  has  since  been  urged  by  others,  can  truly  say 
that  it  presented  every  good  argument  that  has  ever  been 
made  in  favor  of  the  power. 

My  first  speech  was  made  on  a  commutation  bill,  which, 
on  my  argument,  was  radically  changed  by  an  unanimous 
vote. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  5  I 

During  the  session,  which  closed  in  May,  I  acquired  a 
character  better  than  I  had  any  right  to  expect.  In  April  I 
went  with  my  friend  and  colleague,  R.  C.  Anderson,  to  Phila- 
delphia, where  we  remained  a  week,  seeing  and  enjoying 
much.  Our  fille  de  chambre  was  a  beautiful  girl,  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  lady  of  broken  fortunes,  who  resided  in  a  fine  house 
opposite  to  the  "Mansion  House"  on  Third  street,  where  we 
sojourned.  The  only  compensation  the  servants  expected 
was  from  the  voluntary  contributions  from  the  patrons  of  the 
hotel.  When  I  left  I  handed  her  five  dollars.  She  thanked 
me  graciously,  and  said  that  some  dog  who  had  been  occupy- 
ing my  room  not  long  before  had  given  her  only  a  lottery 
ticket,  which  she  considered  worthless.  But  I  was  gratified 
by  reading  in  a  Philadelphia  paper,  shortly  after  my  return 
to  Washington,  that  her  ticket  drew  the  highest  prize  of 
$100,000! 

At  the  first  dinner  after  our  arrival  in  Philadelphia,  an  in 
cident  occurred  which  was  rather  embarrassing  to  me.  A 
few  minutes  after  our  names  had  been  registered,  dinner  was 
announced.  On  entering  the  dining  saloon  I  discovered  a 
brilliant  party,  consisting  chiefly  of  foreign  diplomats  and 
naval  officers,  and  I  saw  that  every  plate  except  Anderson's 
and  mine  was  served  with  bottles  of  various  wines.  This 
was  what  I  had  never  seen  before.  Without  inquiry  or  re- 
flection, I  supposed  that  wine  was  a  part  of  the  dinner,  and 
was,  for  convenient  use,  placed  at  each  plate;  and  that  the 
only  reason  why  our  two  plates  were  not  supplied  like  all  the 
others,  was  that  the  dinner  service  had  been  completed  before 
we  arrived.  With  that  impression,  I  bowed  to  a  naval 
officer  to  my  left  (Commodore  Chauncey,  I  think,)  and  asked 
him  to  join  me  in  a  glass  of  wine,  he  having  three  bottles 
and  I  none.  After  a  momentary  pause  of  evident  surprise, 
in  which  the  other  guests  seemed  to  sympathize,  he  courte- 
ously assented,  and  requested  me  to  choose  my  wine.  I 
shortly  afterwards  proposed  a  glass  to  Anderson,  which  he 
significantly  declined,  having,  as  I  also  had,  discovered,  by 


52  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

the  impression  my  blunder  had  made,  that  all  was  not  a  la 
Chesterfield.  As  soon  as  I  had  dined  I  reprimanded  the 
major  do J no  for  not  furnishing  me  with  wine.  He,  instead  of 
replying  that  I  had  ordered  none,  apologized,  and  promised 
that,  if  I  would  excuse  him,  I  should  have  no  further  cause 
to  complain,  and,  inquiring  what  kind  of  wine  I  \\ould  have 
for  dinner  next  day,  I  ordered  a  bottle  of  Maderia  and 
another  of  Sherry,  intending  to  redeem  my  character  next 
day.  But,  to  my  regret,  my  neighbor  was  gone.  And  I 
have  no  doubt  that  he  often  told  the  ludicrous  anecdote  about 
the  young  member  of  Congress  from  the  backwoods  of  Ken- 
tucky. 

I  returned  home  about  the  22d  of  May,  1818.  Col.  R. 
M.  Johnson,  J.  J.  Crittenden,  and  myself  travelled  home- 
ward together — Col.  J.  in  a  Jersey  wagon,  and  Mr.  C.  and  I 
on  horseback  to  Wheeling,  whence  \ve  descended  to  Mays- 
ville  in  an  ark,  with  much  privation  and  discomfort.  When 
I  beheld  my  native  Kentucky,*  at  the  mouth  of  the  Big 
Sandy,  I  could (not  refrain  from  tears;  my  long  absence  and 
instinctive  attachments  overwhelmed  me  with  the  memories 
and  the  hopes  of  young  wife  and  children  and  "  S^vv/ 
Home. 

On  reaching  home  I  found  John  Speed  Smith  a  candidate 
for  my  seat ;  and,  although  I  did  not  desire  a  re-election, 
and  had  so  announced,  yet  unwilling  to  be  apparently  shoved 
out,  I  felt  it  due  to  honor  to  become  a  candidate  again.  But 
after  canvassing  the  district  a  few  days,  Smith  again  declined, 
and  I  was  re-elected  without  any  opposition.  During  the 
next  session,  without  consulting  any  person,  even  my  friend 
John  Scott,  then  the  delegate  from  Missouri,  I  introduced  a 
bill  for  the  organization  of  the  Territory  of  Arkansas.  When, 
on  discussion,  the  House  became  reconciled  to  the  bill,  and 
it  was  ready  for  the  question  on  the  third  reading,  John  W. 
Taylor,  of  New  York,  moved  an  amendment  interdicting 
slavery.  After  an  exciting  debate,  the  amendment  for  pro- 
*See  Appendix  C. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  53 

spective  interdiction  prevailed  by  a  vote  of  72  against  70. 
On  my  motion,  the  bill  was  then  recommitted  to  a  large  and 
conservative  committee,  who  struck  out  the  anti-slavery 
clause,  and  recommended  the  passage  of  the  bill  in  the  orig- 
inal form  in  which  I  had  first  presented  it.  On  the  question 
of  concurring  with  the  committee,  two  of  my  Northern 
friends,  who  had  voted  for  Taylor's  amendment,  being  pur- 
posely absent,  the  vote  was  70 — 70,  and  Mr.  Clay  (then 
Speaker)  gave  the  casting  vote  against  Congressional  inter- 
vention. My  speech  against  intervention  was  published,  and 
is  yet  preserved  in  my  "Scrap-Book."  In  that  speech  I  con- 
ceded the  mere  power  of  Congress,  but  endeavored  to  show 
that  policy  forbade  the  exercise  of  it;  .  and  /  predicted  the 
consequences  which  would  result,  and  have  resulted,  from  the 
national  agitation  of  slavery. 

President  Monroe  offered  me  the  appointment  of  Governor 
of  the  new  Territory,  which  I  first  declined ;  but,  being 
urged  by  his  Cabinet,  I  agreed  to  accept,  with  the  under- 
standing that  I  would  take  my  family  to  the  Territory,  and, 
if  we  should  be  unwilling  to  make  it  our  permanent  home,  I 
might  resign.  There  were  several  applicants  for  the  office, 
all  of  whom  withdrew  because  they  were  told  by  the  Presi- 
dent that  I  would  be  appointed.  But  in  the  meantime  I 
voted  for  Mr.  Clay's  Seminole  resolutions,  which  offended 
Mr.  Monroe,  who  then  revoked  his  invitation  on  pretence  of 
ineligibility  on  the  ground  that  I  voted  to  create  the  office, 
although  the  law  was  postponed  in  its  operation  until  the 
4th  of  July,  1819,  four  months  after  the  expiration  of  my 
Congressional  term,  and  although  many  precedents  recog- 
nized my  constitutional  eligibility ;  and  even  though  the 
Cabinet  unanimously  decided  that  the  President's  objection 
was  indefensible.  These  facts  being  known,  nearly  every 
Senator,  and  multitudes  of  others  in  high  position,  volun- 
tarily, without  my  agency,  un;ed  my  appointment.  I  was 
then  a  favorite  in  Kentucky,  and  popular  in  Congress,  and  a 
knowledge  of  this  fact,  and  the  unusual  importunity  and 


54  LIFE  OF  GFORGE  ROBERTSON. 

unanimity  of  disinterested  men  in  my  favor,  impressed  the 
President  with  the  perilous  responsibility  of  his  conduct. 
And,  to  help  rescue  him  in  Kentucky,  he,  without  solicita- 
tion, nominated  my  brother-in-law,  R.  P.  Letcher,  a  Judge, 
and  R.  Crittenden,  brother  of  J.  J.  Crittenden,  Secretary  of 
Arkansas.  On  the  third  of  March,  a  Cabinet  council  was 
held  on  the  subject  of  my  appointment,  at  the  close  of  which 
John  Quincy  Adams,  Secretary  of  State,  requested  me  not 
to  leave,  as  I  intended,  that  day  for  home,  as  the  President 
would  send  my  nomination  to  the  Senate  in  an  hour,  and  de- 
sired me  to  remain  a  few  days  to  receive  some  instructions. 
But  in  less  than  an  hour,  Col.  Miller,  of  the  army,  who  had 
never  before  been  suggested  for  the  office,  was  nominated! 
This  surprised  Cabinet,  Senate,  and  all  applicants  for  territo- 
rial appointments,  and,  as  much  as  any  other  person,  Miller, 
Letcher,  and  Crittenden  themselves. 

This  case  illustrates  one  of  Mr.  Monroe's  infirmities — un- 
reasonable and  invincible  obstinacy  when  egotism  or  passion 
operated  on  his  opinions. 

Having  promised  to  accept  the  appointment  on  the  condi- 
tion that  if,  on  a  visit  with  my  family  to  the  Territory,  I 
should  prefer  not  to  settle  there,  J  might  resign,  I  bought  a 
traveling  carriage  at  $1,000,  for  which  I  had  no  use  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  the  purchase  of  which  absorbed  one-fourth  of 
my  estate ;  and  I  did  think  that  the  President  ought  to  have 
taken  this  unbefitting  incumbrance  off  my  hands.  But  all 
he  ever  did  for  reparation  was  to  offer  me,  as  he  afterwards 
did,  several  more  attractive  offices  than  the  proconsulship  of 
Arkansas — all  of  which  I  declined  on  an  inflexible  resolve 
to  accept  no  favor  from  him.  In  the  summer  of  1819  he 
visited  Kentucky  and  sojourned  for  some  weeks  at  the  Green- 
ville Springs,  in  my  district,  where  I  attended  him  during  his 
stay  and  treated  him  with  all  proper  courtesy  and  hospitality ; 
and  when  he  left,  I  accompanied  him  to  a  ball  given  to  him 
at  Danville,  and  introduced  him  to  my  constituents  there 
assembled  to  see  and  to  honor  him.  Had  I  received  the 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


appointment  provisionally,  as  alone  I  had  agreed,  I  am  satis- 
fied that  I  would  not  have  retained  it  long,  or  settled  in 
Arkansas. 

In  1820  I  initiated  the  present  system  of  selling  the  pub- 
lic lands,  which,  as  a  substitute  for  the  former  mode  of  selling 
on  credit  at  a  minimum  of  two  dollars  an  acre,  requires  pay- 
ment without  credit,  reduced  to  the  minimum  of  price  to  one 
dollar  and  twenty-five  cents,  and  of  quantity  to  eighty  acres, 
whereby  any  poor  man  who  could  command  one  hundred 
dollars  might  purchase  a  home,  and  non  resident  speculations 
were  in  a  great  degree  prevented,  heavy  and  hopeless  in- 
debtedness to  the  General  Government  avoided,  and  the 
population  of  the  vacant  territories  facilitated  and  encouraged. 
I  now,  as  I  then  anticipated  and  argued,  look  on  this  as  one 
of  the  most  beneficent  measures  ever  enacted  by  Congress. 
The  Western  members,  with  the  exception  of  R.  C.  Ander- 
son, Ben  Hardin,  and  myself,  opposed  it  as  anti-western,  and 
I  was  warned  that  my  support  of  it  would  seal  my  political 
ostracism.  But,  sure  that  I  was  right,  I  urged  it  in  defiance 
of  the  prospect  of  personal  proscription.  Hcmy  Clay  op- 
posed it  writh  great  zeal,  and  his  argument  against  it  occupied 
the  session  of  one  day.  I  replied  to  him  in  a  speech  of 
three  hours  length,  the  substance  of  which  was  published  in 
the  "National  Intelligencer,"  and  is  preserved  in  my  "Scrap- 
Book." 

To  my  surprise,  no  one  of  my  constituents  complained  of 
my  conduct,  and  the  act  soon  became  universally  popular. 
The  discussion  was  confined  almost  exclusively  to  Mr.  Clay 
and  myself,  and  the  bill  was  passed  by  a  majority  of  about 
four-fifths  of  the  votes  in  the  House  of  Representative0. 
When  General  Harrison  was  a  candidate  for  President,  his 
popularity  was  greatly  increased  in  the  West  and  Northwest 
by  the  ascription  to  him  of  the  authorship  of  that  enactment. 
I  was  silent,  and  he  then  got  the  credit  of  it,  though  he  was 
not  even  a  member  of  Congress  when  it  was  introduced 
and  passed. 


56  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

During  a  service  of  four  years,  I  was  a  member  of  the 
committee  on  internal  improvement,  and  also  of  the  judiciary, 
and  chairman  of  the  committee  on  private  land  claims.      In 
the  latter  capacity  I  saved  to  the  Government  the  whole  of 
the  land  called  the  Washita  grant.     Reports  had  been  suc- 
cessively made  in  favor  of  the  claimants  by  Richard  Rush  as 
Attorney  General,  and  by  Albert  Gallatin  and  A.  J.  Dallas, 
Secretaries  of  the  Treasury.      Robert  Walsh,  as  agent  of  the 
claimants,    presented  their  claims  to  my  committee.     The 
original  grantee   undertook  to    bring    to   that  country    four 
hundred  families  and  settle  them  within  a  definite  boundary. 
He  and  his  assignees  constituting  the  petitioning  company, 
claimed   all    the   land  within  the    prescribed  limits,    on  the 
ground   that  he  had    partially  performed  his  contract,    and 
would  have  fulfilled  his  entire  undertaking  had  the  Govern- 
ment complied  with  its  obligations,  and  that  his  failure  was 
produced  by  conduct  of  the  Government.     The  committee, 
excepting  myself,  were  for  some  time  unanimous  for  a  report 
in  lavor  of  the  claim.     I  deferred  a  report  until  I  ascertained, 
and  convinced  the  other  members,  that  had  the  grantee  ful- 
filled his  whole  contract  he  would  have  been  entitled  only  to 
certain  water  power  for  flouring  and   other   manufacturing 
purposes,  and  could  have  had,  in  no  event,  a  right  to  any 
land.     And  finally  we  so  reported,  and  Mr.  Walsh  retired 
greatly  disappointed,  and  the  claim  has  never  been  renewed. 
I  had  been  elected   for  a  third    term,    the  elections  then 
being  the  year  before  the  commencement  of  the  term.      But, 
on  my  return  home  after  the  close  of  my  second  term,  I  re- 
signed my  third  term.      I  was  pleased  with  political  life,  and 
my  prospects  were  encouraging.      Had  I  been  affluent,   or 
without  a  family,  I  would  have  preferred  to  continue  in  pub- 
lic life.      But,   poor,  and  having  a   growing  family,    I  felt  a 
a  paramount  and  sacred  obligation  to  give  up  my  political 
prospects,  and  devote  myself  to  my  profession  and  my  wife 
and  children. 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  57 


CHAPTER  V. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  1821,  I  resumed  the  practice  of 
law,  and  soon  had  as  much  employment  as  I  could  well  at- 
tend to.  Gov.  Adair,  though  a  political  opponent,  spon- 
taneously offered  me  the  Attorney  Generalship  of  Kentucky, 
which  I  declined  ;  after  which  he,  in  like  manner,  tendered 
me  the  Judgeship  of  the  Fayette  Circuit,  backed  by  an  offer 
of  the  Trustees  of  Transylvania  of  the  professorship  of  law  in 
that  institution,  both  of  which  I  also  declined,  because  I  de- 
sired no  office,  and  felt  resolved  to  prosecute  my  profession 
vigorously  for  some  years,  until  I  could  thereby  procure  a 
competency  for  independence,  which  I  might  have  done  in 
ten  years  or  less. 

But  the  professional  purpose  of  my  resignation  of  a  seat  in 
Congress  was,  in  a  great  degree,  frustrated  by  my  Garrard 
constituents,  who,  in  1823,  nolens  volens,  sent  me  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  Kentucky  Legislature,  to 
help  to  guide  the  ship  of  State  through  the  "relief  and  anti- 
relief  and  "new  and  old  court"  storm  which  had  then  com- 
menced to  rage,  and  which,  having  reluctantly  embarked,  I 
rode  out  until  1827,  when  it  was  lulled  by  the  final  triumph 
of  the  Constitution.  During  three  years  of  that  service  I 
was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  during  the 
whole  of  it  was  almost  incessantly  engaged,  on  the  stump, 
through  the  press,  and  in  the  Legislature,  in  debating  the 
constitutional  questions  which  agitated  the  State  more  than 
it  was  ever  convulsed  before  or  since.  Some  of  those  ad- 


58  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

dresses  are  preserved  in  my  "Scrap  Book,"  and  may  speak 
for  themselves  and  for  me. 

During  that  convulsive  period  I  had  to  neglect  my  forensic 
practice  to  such  an  extent  as  to  leave  me  but  little  profit 
from  it.  But,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1827,  I  resumed  it 
with  energy,  and  encouraging  prospects  of  soon  obtaining 
all  I  ever  coveted  of  earth's  trash — a  competency  for  rational 
comfort  and  independence.  And  this  I  might  have  soon  se- 
cured had  I  been  able  to  persist  in  my  resolution  of  self- 
denial  of  all  political  and  official  allurements,  and,  comforma- 
bly  with  which  resolution,  I  declined  the  offer  of  nomination 
by  my  party  for  the  office  of  Governor  in  the  year  1828. 
Gen'l  Metcalfe,  having  been  substituted  and  elected,  urged 
me  to  accept  the  post  of  Secretary  of  State,  which  I  declined; 
but,  my  party  requiring  my  acceptance,  I  finally  accepted, 
and  was  preparing  to  settle  in  Frankfort,  where  the  changed 
condition  of  the  bar  and  augmented  business  of  the  courts 
and  my  favorable  position  in  the  public  eye  would  have  in 
sured  me  affluence  in  a  few  years.  But  again  my  party, 
treating  me  as  a  leader  whose  services  they  claimed  the  right 
to  call  into  any  field  of  labor,  controlled  my  will,  and  called 
me  to  the  Appellate  bench,  then  by  far  the  most  onerous  and 
irksome,  and,  to  me,  the  least  welcome  of  all  important  and 
honorable  public  trusts.  I  had  no  taste  for  judicial  service. 
The  labors  of  an  Appellate  Judge  were  then  herculean.  The 
salary  ($1,500  in  the  depreciated  currency,  worth  less  than 
$1,000  in  cash,)  was  grossly  inadequate,  and  about  equal  to 
my  salary  as  Secretary  of  State — to  me  a  place  of  pastime — 
and,  by  going  on  the  bench  I  knew  that  I  would  not  only 
make  an  immense  pecuniary  sacrifice,  but  be  doomed  to 
ostracism  from  popular  favor,  and  subjected  to  an  unwel- 
come privation  of  social  and  personal  liberty.  I  therefore 
revolted  at  the  prospect  of  such  crucifixion  on  the  bench. 
But  the  defeated  party  had  a  small  majority.  Some  of 
them  preferred  me,  urged  me  to  accept,  and  would  vote 
for  no  other  person  in  the  victorious  party.  My  party 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  59 


therefore  demanded  my  nomination  and  acceptance,  and 
left  me  no  other  honorable  alternative;  and  assuring  me 
that  I  might  resign  at  any  time  after  one  year's  incum- 
bency, I  was  constrained  to  yield,  and  felt  that  I  was  going 
to  the  altar  as  a  self-sacrificed  victim  to  party  policy. 

Upon  my  appointment,  Chief-Justice  Bibb,  who  had  been 
leader  of  the  antipodal  party,  resigned.  His  place  was  not 
filed  till  the  :6th  of  December,  1829,  when  I  was  com- 
missioned Chief-Justice  of  Kentucky.  My  commission  as 
Judge  was  dated  December  24th,  1828.  During  the  interval 
of  nearly  a  year  between  these  commissions,  all  the  heavy 
duties  of  the  court  devolved  on  my  associate  (Judge  Under- 
wood) and  myself,  and  we  had  not  one  day  of  relaxation ; 
and,  for  about  seven  succeeding  years,  I  was  not  permitted 
to  enjoy  the  undisturbed  leisure  of  a  "Cotter's  Saturday 
Night,"  and  consumed  many  entire  nights  by  the  judicial  lamp 
ivitJiout  a  moment  of  repose.  I  often  tried  to  abdicate,  but 
was  always  overruled,  until  the  ist  of  April,  1843,  when  the 
Governor  again  declining  to  accept  my  tendered  resignation, 
I  filed  it  myself  in  his  office,  and  left  the  bench.  I  thus  un- 
expectedly and  unwillingly  devoted  nearly  fifteen  years  of 
the  prime  of  my  life  to  incessant  and  self-sacrificing  labor  on 
the  Appellate  bench,  and  resumed  my  mental  and  locomo- 
tive liberty,  poor  and  fifty-two  years  old.  All  I  am  now 
worth,  and  much  more  given  to  my  children  and  paid  for 
friends,  I  have  made  by  a  voluntarily  limited  practice  of  the 
law  for  about  twelve  years  since  1843,  having  chosen  almost 
total  retirement  for  the  last  six  years. 

How  I  discharged  my  judicial  duties,  my  reported  opinions 
may  partially  serve  to  show ;  and  how  my  professional  func- 
tions, the  public  verdict  will  decide.  All  I  can  say  is  that,  in 
these,  as  well  as  in  all  my  other  relations  of  public  and  pri- 
vate life,  I  have  studied  only  my  duty,  and  faithfully  tried  to 
do  it  to  the  full  measure  of  my  abilities. 

During  my  service  on  the  Bench  I  could  have  been  elected 
to  the  United  States  Senate  twice  beyond  question,  if  I  had 


6O  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


consented ;  and  on  another  occasion  I  would  have  been 
elected  without  my  knowledge  had  not  my  brother-in  law 
(Letcher)  withdrawn  my  name  from  the  balloting,  after  which 
J.  T.  Morehead  was  elected.  At  another  time,  in  1846,  Ex- 
Gov.  Letcher  and  Judge  Underwood  being  rival  candidates, 
I  was  urged  by  many  prominent  members  of  the  Legislature 
to  allow  my  name  to  be  put  in  as  a  pis  alia;  after  many 
unsuccessful  ballotings  between  the  two  principal  candidates. 
And  some  of  the  friends  of  both  of  them  visited  me  and 
assured  me  that  Underwood,  desiring  me  to  be  nominated, 
would  withdraw  and  secure  my  election  if  I  would  only  con- 
sent to  a  nomination.  I  refused,  however,  unless  Letcher 
also  would  withdraw.  This  he  refused  to  do,  and  thereby 
weakened  himself  and  strengthed  Underwood,  who  was  there- 
fore finally  elected.  I  had  no  reason  to  doubt  that,  if  Letcher 
had  acceded  to  the  proposed  compromise,  I  would  have  been 
elected  una  voce. 

In  1848  I  was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature  by  the  peo- 
ple of  Fayette,  without  solicitation  and  against  my  will. 
During  the  succeeding  session  the  non-importation  act  of 
1733  was  substantially  repealed.  I  spoke  and  voted  against 
the  repeal.  In  that  speech  I  uttered  my  sentiments  on  the 
policy  of  non-importation  of  slaves  into  Kentucky,  on  aboli- 
tion and  emancipation,  and  also  on  slavery  itself,  and  the 
proper  mode  of  treating  it.  And  to  prevent  injurious  agita- 
tion and  secure  peace  and  stability,  I  suggested  the  propriety 
of  embodying  in  the  Constitution  the  principle  and  policy  of 
non-importation. 

On  my  return  home  after  the  close  of  the  session,  I  was 
urged  by  all  parties  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  Convention 
which  had  been  called  by  the  popular  vote  against  my  coun- 
sel and  vote.  Knowing  from  the  temper  of  the  times  that 
the  new  would  be  worse  than  the  old  Constitution,  I  preferred 
to  be  no  actor  in  the  body  that  would  be  responsible  for  the 
deterioration.  But,  submitting  to  the  then  manifest  choice  of 
my  fellow  citizens,  I  consented  to  be  announced  as  a  candi- 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  6l 


date.  Not  long  afterwards,  and  before  there  was  any  other 
candidate,  Mr.  Clay's  letter  in  favor  of  emancipation  was 
published,  and  Robt.  J.  Breckinridge  and  many  others  in 
Fayette,  presuming  on  Mr.  Clay's  co-operation,  stirred  the 
question  of  emancipation  as  the  controlling  consideration  in 
the  election  of  delegates  to  the  Convention.  The  agitation 
became  intense  and  pervading  until,  degenerating  into  a 
stultifying  mania,  it  produced  fanatical  coalitions  between 
pro-slavery  Whigs  and  Democrats  and  emancipation  Whigs 
and  Democrats,  who  ascembled  in  separate  and  stormy  con- 
ventions, each  of  which,  in  a  whirlwind  of  passion,  nominated 
a  Whig  and  a  Democrat  as  their  antagonistic  candidates  lor 
the  Convention.  The  leaders  of  the  pro-slavery  party  urged 
me  to  be  one  of  their  candidates,  and  offered  me  the  nomi- 
nation on  condition  that  I  would  waive  my  policy  as  to 
non-importation  being  imbedded  in  the  Constitution.  This 
I  peremptorily  declined,  as  I  did  also  overtures  from  the  other 
combination  to  consent  to  be  placed  on  their  ticket.  Thus 
threatened  to  be  overwhelmed  by  two  mountain  waves,  be- 
tween which  I  stood  alone  as  a  committed  candidate,  my 
personal  interest  and  comfort  would  have  induced  my  indig- 
nant withdrawal,  had  I  felt  free  to  consult  my  own  ease  and 
inclination.  But,  assured  that  I  was  right,  and  that  a  large 
majority  of  the  people  of  Fayette  had  stood,  and,  when 
rational  and  deliberate,  would  again  stand  on  my  platform 
as  to  slavery  and  the  principles  of  a  new  Constitution,  I  felt 
it  my  public  duty,  on  an  occasion  so  eventful,  to  meet  the 
issue  and  try  to  quell  the  storm  and  save  the  country  from 
political  revolution  and  from  the  curse  of  such  a  Constitution 
as  I  foreboded  from  that  agitation,  and  as  it  has  imposed  on 
us  and  our  children.  The  programme  I  advocated  may  be 
seen  in  a  handbill  preserved  among  my  papers.  During  the 
discussions  on  the  stump  I  became  reassured  that  a  large 
majority  of  the  people  of  Fayette  concurred  with  me,  and 
that,  if  many  of  those  committed  in  their  coalition  conven- 
tions could  emancipate  themselves,  I  would  be  elected. 


62  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROP^RTSOX. 

Robert  J.  Breckinridge  as  a  Whig,  and  Samuel  Shy  as  a 
Democrat  were  the  caucus  candidates  for  the  emancipation 
party,  and  A.  K.  Woolley,  Whig,  and  R.  N.  Wickliffe, 
Democrat,  were  the  nominees  of  the  ultra-pro-slavery  junto. 
Mcst,  probably  all,  of  the  Whrg  emancipationists  preferred 
me  to  Shy,  and  all  the  pro-slavery  Whigs  preferred  me  to 
Wickliffe;  but  many  of  these  felt  handcuffed  by  their  hasty 
agency  in  the  adulterous  nominations,  and  not  a  few  who 
were  anxious  to  assert  their  independence,  were  prevented 
by  importunity  and  indifference.  I  heard  it  often  asserted 
that  Breckinridge  urged  Whig  emancipationists  to  vote  for 
Shy,  and  told  them  not  to  vote  for  him,  if  they  would  vote 
for  me.  And  by  this  clerical  indoctrination,  some  of  my 
warmest  personal  and  political  friends  were  induced  to  vote 
against  me.  Similar  means  had  the  like  effect  on  pro-slavery 
Whigs.  In  addition  to  all  these  unpropitious  embarrass- 
ments, the  fact  that  I  had  no  associate  in  the  canvass  operated 
powerfully  against  me  by  necessitating  a  division  of  my  votes 
among  my  adversaries,  and  thus  requiring  for  my  success 
nearly  double  as  much  strength  as  that  of  either  of  the  op- 
posing candidates. 

Had  I  been  before  either  of  the  caucus  candidates  when 
the  polls  were  announced  at  one  o'clock  the  first  day  of  the 
election,  my  election  would  have  been  sure;  but  at  that  crit- 
ical time  the  two  belligerent  tickets  were  side  by  side,  and  I 
was  a  little  behind.  This  accident  I  considered  as  decisive 
of  my  fate,  and,  having  told  my  friends  so,  most  of  them 
afterwards  voted  for  one  of  the  other  tickets.  Had  not 
Samuel  Bullock,  who  had  agreed  to  be  an  associate  candidate 
on  my  platform,  died  before  the  election,  I  would  have  been 
elected,  or,  with  all  the  disadvantage  of  running  alone, 
Breckinridge  and  myself  would  have  been  elected,  if  he  had 
conducted  the  canvass  impartially.  But  his  misdirected 
course  against  me,  which  I  will  not  here  theorise,  expose, 
or  describe,  defeated  himself  and  helped  to  beat  me. 

In  the  canvass  I  told  the  people  that  no  emancipationist, 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  63 

unless  possibly  Breckinridge,  would  be  elected,  and  also  that 
even  if  every  emancipation  candidate  in  the  State  should  be 
elected,  that  party  would  be  in  so  small  a  minority  in  the 
Convention  as  to  be  unable  to  do  anything  for  emancipation. 
And  after  elaborate  discussion  on  emancipation,  all  over  the 
county,  between  Breckinridge  and  myself,  in  which  I  en- 
deavored to  prove,  and  thought  that  I  had  proved,  the 
impolicy  of  agitating  the  question  before  the  people,  or  in 
the  Convention,  seeming  to  be  persuaded  of  its  impolicy,  he 
declared  publicly  at  Elkhorn  precinct,  just  before  the  elec- 
tion, that  if  elected  he  would  not  only  not  move  emancipation, 
but  would  vote  against  it,  if  moved  in  the  Convention  by  any 
other  member.  And  I  predicted  that  the  indiscreet  and 
premature  agitation  of  an  enterprise  so  impracticable  and 
disquieting  would  aggravate  and  prolong  slavery,  and  throw 
into  the  Convention  a  crude  and  effervescing  material  which 
would  curse  us  with  the  worst  constitution  in  the  Union;  and 
such  already  is  felt  to  be  the  result;  but  popular  ebullition 
was  too  strong  for  reason  or  sober  deliberation.  And  my 
course  in  the  canvass,  and  the  causes  of  my  defeat  not  being 
understood  out  of  Fayette,  my  unexpected  failure  made 
many  persons  elsewhere  suspect  that  I  was  unpopular  at 
home,  or  was  unsound  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  I  have 
ever  since  suffered  greatly  from  this  ignorant  and  unjust  prej- 
udice. Never  soliciting  office,  and  long  preferring  the  pursuits 
of  private  life,  I  have  had  neither  suitable  occasion  nor  actu- 
ating motive  for  altogether  rectifying  that  unreasonable 
misconception,  for  which  nothing  in  my  history  or  in  my 
many  speeches  and  writings  on  slavery  in  all  its  phases, 
affords  any  semblance  of  excuse. 

Had  I  been  in  the  Convention,  the  Constitution  as  it  is 
might  never  have  been  adopted ;  and  had  my  warnings  been 
heeded,  or  my  uniform  policy  observed,  abolitionists,  free- 
soilers,  and  secessionists  would  never  have  disturbed  the 
fraternity  of  the  State,  or  jeoparded  the  Union. 

In  December,   1834,    I  accepted  the  professorship  of  Con- 


64  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

stitutional  Law,  Equity,  and  International  Law,  public  and 
private,  and,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1835,  I  settled  in  Lexington, 
where  I  still  reside.  The  professorship  I  retained  until 
1858,  where  I  helped  to  make  more  than  twelve  hundred 
lawyers,  scattered  over  the  United  States,  but  principally 
over  the  Western,  Southern,  and  Northwestern  States  and 
Territories.  They  left  me  all  right  in  fundamental  politics ; 
and  many  of  them  have  become  distinguished  jurists  and 
statesmen,  occupying  high  places  at  the  bar,  on  the  bench, 
and  in  the  Legislative  councils,  State  and  National.  For  the 
labor  and  privation  encountered  in  their  tutelage  I  feel  more 
than  compensated  by  the  assuring  hope  that  the  >eed  1  sowed 
will,  by  its  wholesome  fructification,  help  to  save  our  institu- 
tions and  bless  our  posterity. 

Poverty  and  domestic  obligations  having  compelled  me  to 
resign  my  seat  in  Congress,  and  my  reluctant  and  gaml< ->s 
devotion  to  the  bench  afterwards  for  nearly  fifteen  years  of 
the  prime  of  my  manhood,  having  left  me  poor,  I  had,  when 
I  resigned  the  Chief  Justiceship  of  Kentucky,  no  other  con- 
sistent option  than  to  try,  by  the  practice  of  the  law,  to 
acquire  an  humble  competence  for  the  independence  and 
comfort  of  my  family;  and  this  I  had  not  attained  before 
about  the  year  1851.  Consequently,  whatever  my  personal 
preference  may  have  been,  I  could  not  have  consistently  quit 
my  profession  for  any  political  po>t,  even  the  National  Sen- 
ate, which  I  would  have  preferred  to  any  other. 

This  sense  of  paramount  duty  to  my  family  induced  me 
to  decline  the  offer  of  an  election  to  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate and  of  other  preferment  more  than  once.  But  when  I  had 
reached  a  condition  of  life  which  would  have  made  the  Sen- 
ate eligible  to  me,  I  was  voted  for  on  two  occasions  in  1851, 
without  my  solicitation  and  without  my  interference  in  any 
way,  and  would,  nevertheless,  have  been  elected  either 
time  had  not  untoward  accidents  prevented.  I  was  then  a 
member  of  the  Kentucky  Legislature.  I  was  urged  to  be 
Speaker,  which  I  declined.  My  nephew,  G.  R.  McKee, 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  65 

then  became  a  candidate,  with  some  other  friends,  who  pre- 
ferred me  for  the  Senate.  After  many  exciting  ballots  the 
House  adjourned  without  an  election.  Fearful  of  a  dis- 
ruption by  this  hopeless  antagonism  of  friends,  our  party 
nominated  and  elected  me  against  my  will,  as  a  peace-offer- 
ing, and  the  effect  on  me  was  to  make  all  the  aspirants  to  the 
chair,  except  my  nephew,  violently  adverse  to  my  election  to 
the  Senate.  In  addition  to  this  Mr.  Crittenden,  then  a  mem- 
ber of  Mr.  Fillmore's  cabinet,  and  not  believed  to  be  a 
candidate  for  the  Senate,  was  urged  for  an  election  by  a  few 
of  his  admirers.  His  friends  were  generally  mine,  and,  had 
not  his  name  been  thus  unfortunately  used  without  his  known 
sanction,  my  election  was  sure,  notwithstanding  the  loss  re- 
sulting from  the  Speakership.  I  was  not,  and  refused  to  be, 
a  candidate,  but  had  said  that  if  spontaneously  chosen,  I 
would  not  decline  the  call.  I  was  opposed  to  the  use  of  his 
name,  which  was  persistently  made  against  the  judgment  of 
all  his  discreet  friends,  and  I  announced,  at  once,  that  I  could 
not  co-operate  in  any  such  unauthorized  effort,  which  I  con- 
sidered, as  it  turned  out,  injurious  to  him,  and  unjust,  as  it 
certainly  was,  to  other  citizens  who  had  been  fighting  for 
him  and  for  conservatism  for  many  years,  without  any  pre- 
ferment. And,  accordingly,  I  did  not  vote  for  him.  This 
alienated  his  friends  from  me,  and  made  most  of  them,  even 
my  own  Senator,  zealous  and  active  against  me  during  the 
entire  session  of  that  Legislature. 

Mr.  Crittenden,  Mr.  Dixon,  and  myself  were  voted  for. 
After  several  ballots,  in  which  I  was  well  sustained,  seeing 
that  the  contest  was  degenerating  into  a  fatal  split  of  our 
party,  I  had  my  name  withdrawn  in  defiance  of  earnest  re- 
monstrances by  many  of  my  friends.  Between  Crittenden 
and  Dixon  the  balloting  was  continued  for  many  days,  some 
members,  who  were  opposed  to  both  of  them,  putting  up  a 
third  man  on  each  successive  ballot.  At  last,  our  party  be- 
ing in  imminent  danger  of  dissolution,  Mr.  C.  and  Mr.  D. 
were  both  withdrawn,  and  a  caucus  assembled  to  select  a 
4 


66  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

candidate.  Some  of  the  members  who  were  excited  against 
me  arranged  a  platform  which  would  be  most  likely  to  de- 
feat the  strongest  man — which  was,  that  every  member 
might  nominate  whom  he  desired,  and  that  no  nominee 
should  be  preferred  until  he  had,  sncccssnrl]\  beaten  every 
other.  To  illustrate  the  effect  of  that  programme,  we  may 
suppose  that  every  letter  in  the  alphabet  was  in  nomination 
(and  it  was  in  this  case  nearly  so).  A  would  be  ahead  at 
the  first  ballot;  then  he  would  have  to  run  against  B,  for 
whom  all  or  nearly  all  the  friends  of  the  other  nominees 
would  vote  for  the  purpose  of  breaking  A  down  ;  then  B 
would  have  to  run  against  C,  who  would,  in  the  same  way, 
beat  him;  and  so  on,  the  same  result  would  follow  until  Z 
would  beat  Y;  then  Z  would  run  against  A,  who,  of  course, 
would  in  like  manner  beat  him  ;  and  so  the  same  farce  would 
be  repeated.  And  just  so  it  was  in  this  instance.  On  the 
first  ballot  I  was  foremost;  C.  S.  Morehead  was  next;  he 
then  beat  me,  and  himself  was  beaten,  .as  others  were  suc- 
cessively until  John  B.  Thompson,  who  was  the  lowest  on 
the  first  ballot,  was  ahead;  I  then  beat  him;  and  the  same 
round  was  run  again,  with  the  same  results,  until  eight  of 
my  friends,  despairing  of  any  conclusion  of  such  a  farce,  left 
the  scene.  After  they  had  gone  a  third  round  was  com- 
menced between  Thompson  and  me,  when,  as  I  believe  from 
various  information,  I  beat  him  again.  But  the  chairman 
(my  Senator)  declared  him  nominated.  Many  members  re- 
monstrated, and  denied,  moreover,  that  he  could,  even  had 
he  beaten  me,  be  nominated  until  he  had  beaten  every  other 
competitor.  But  the  chairman  persisted,  and  adjourned  the 
meeting  in  a  st&rm  of  clamor,  declaring  that  Thompson  was 
nominated.  This  having  gotten  out,  it  was  thought  best  not 
to  attempt  to  correct  the  blunder ;  and,  in  this  way,  Thomp- 
son, who  was  the  weakest  in  the  race,  was  made  the  Senator. 
There  was  no  doubt  that  I,  in  a  fair  trial,  would  have  been 
nominated  and  elected. 

After    that  abortion,    Mr.   Clay  having    resigned,    Dixon, 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


Morehead,  and  myself  were  put  up  for  the  succession ;  and 
the  members,  sick  of  the  first  ridiculous  programme,  resolved 
to  have  no  caucus,  but  vote  in  the  Legislature  as  between 
those  who  should  be  nominated  there.  The  opposing  minor- 
ity being  strong  enough  to  prevent  the  election  of  a  Whig  as 
long  as  more  than  one  Whig  was  running,  our  party  resolved 
secretly  to  begin  to  drop  the  hindmost  on  the  fifth  ballot. 
The  Democrats  ran  James  Guthrie  to  embarrass  the  election 
and  insure  the  election  of  a  Whig  whom  they  preferred. 
With  the  exception  of  about  one-fifth  of  them,  they  preferred 
me  ;  and,  understanding  that  on  some  ballot  unknown  to 
them,  the  hindmost  would  be  dropped,  they  intended  to  vote 
for  me  on  that  ballot.  But  my  friend  who  was  chosen  to 
give  them  notice  when  the  ballot  had  come,  was  accidentally 
out  when  it  arrived,  and  the  Democrats  still  voted  for  Guth- 
rie, but  Morehead's  friends  of  the  Democratic  party  (about 
seven),  understanding  when  the  trial  ballot  came,  voted  for 
him;  and  two  of  my  Whig  voters  being  accidentally  out  on 
that  ballot,  I  was  dropped  by  one  vote !  My  election  was 
considered  certain  by  all  who  knew  the  determination  of  a 
large  majority  of  the  Democrats,  and  my  failure  was  almost 
miraculous.  The  following  letter,  published  in  a  Maysville 
paper,  aud  which  was  evidently  written  by  some  friend  who 
knew  the  facts,  will  explain  this  affair  correctly: 

JUDGE  ROBERTSON    AND    THE    SENATORIAL    ELECTION. 

We  have  been  furnished  by  a  citixen  ot"  Maysville.  the  following  extract 
from  a  letter  from  his  correspondent  at  Frankfort,  explaining  the  influences 
and  accidents,  according  to  the  view  of  the  writer,  by  which  the  election 
of  Judge  Robertson  as  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  to  succeed  Henry 
Clay,  resigned,  was  prevented.  We  comply  with  the  request  for  its  pub- 
lication, because,  notwithstanding  the  election  resulted  in  favor  of  another, 
the  facts  stated  are  interesting  in  themselves. 

Judge  Robertson  is,  unquestionably,  a  citizen  whose  peculiar  qualities 
eminently  lit  him  for  the  grave  and  dignified  post  of  Senator  in  Congress 
His  intellect,'giant-like  in  proportions  and  powers;  a  statesman,  liberal,, 
comprehensive  and  national  in  his  views;  a  jurist,  learned,  able  and  pro- 
found; a  citizen  of  ripe  experience  in  all  the  diversified  walks  of  public 
service;  ever  pure  and  sell -sacrificing  in  his  patriotism;  a  scholar  and  a 
gentleman  of  spotless  private  life;  with  such  qualifications,  Judge  Robert- 


68  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

son,  had  he  been  chosen  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  would  have 
discharged  the  duties  of  the  high  station  with  credit  to  himself,  with  honor 
to  Kentucky,  and  with  eminent  advantage  to  the  Union.  On  entering 
that  illustrious  body,  he  would,  by  the  force  of  his  character  and  intellect, 
have  immediately  taken  rank  in  the  very  first  line  of  American  statesmen- 
The  cast  and  mould  of  his  mind  are  peculiarly  Judicial  and  Senatorial; 
and  we  should  deem  the  country  fortunat  e  yet  should  it  secure  his  services 
in  the  Supreme  Court  or  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 
But  to  the  letter — here  is  the  extract: 

"You  expressed  a  hope  that  Judge  Robertson's  'luck'  would  be  better  on 
the  late  than  it  was  on  the  former  occasion.  It  was  not  much  better. 
Your  members  did  not  vote  for  Robertson — not  one  of  than  Had  thev, 
or  any  of  them,  voted  for  him,  he  would  have  been  elected.  The  hot 
Crittenden  men — the  most  of  them — (including  Robertson's  own  Senator, 
and  some  others  who  had,  at  the  beginning  of  the  session,  avowed  them- 
selves for  him  against  Crittenden  himself)  all  proscribed  him  only  In- can  ye 
he  -coted  for  Dixon!  Still  he  would  have  been  elected  had  not  a  singular 
accident  occurred.  Morehead  had  no  chance,  because  all  Robertson's 
votes  except  three  were  for  Dixon  next;  so  that,  out  of  seventy-fne  Whig 
votes,  Morehead  could  not  get  more  than  twenty- two  against  Dixon. 
The  secret  agreement  among  the  Whigs  was  to  begin  on  the  fifth  ballot  to 
drop  the  hindmost.  Robertson  ran  ahead  of  Morehead  on  the  first  four 
ballots,  and  would  have  done  it  also  on  the  fifth  bv  an  increased  majority, 
but  on  the  decisive  fifth,  Morehead  got  five  Democratic  votes,  and  was  thus 
thrown  one  vote  ahead  of  Robertson,  who, notwithstanding  the  live  Demo- 
cratic votes,  would  have  been  several  votes  ahead  of  Morehead.  had  not 
Dr.  Burnet  and  several  other  Democrats,  all  anxiously  awaiting  to  cast  the 
test- vote,  which  they  were  determined  to  do  for  Robertson,  been  acci- 
dentally misinformed  as  to  the  proper  time,  and  in  that  wav  held  to  Guthrie 
until  Robertson  was  unexpectedly  dropped  by  one  vote.  '  Had  Robertson 
beaten  Morehead  on  that  ballot, "as  he  could  nave  done  ea-ilv.  his  election 
was  considered  certain  by  his  o*n  friends,  as  well  as  by  the  best  informed 
of  Dixon's.  He  would, on  the  next  ballot,  have  received,  as  against  Dixon, 
all  of  Morehead's  votes  except  about  three,  which  would  have  made  his 
Whig  vote  equal  or  perhaps  about  two  more  than  Dixon's;  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  he  would  have  received  a  large  mujorit\  of  the  Democratic 
votes" 

I  never,  either  before  or  since,  sought  the  place,  pleasant 
and  eligible  as  it  might  have  been  to  me ;  and  although  I 
have  more  than  once  been  voted  for,  I  was  never  a  candidate 
for  it  or  uttered  a  word  or  did  an  act  to  obtain  it.  X:>r, 
while  I  have  resigned  high  public  posts  and  declined  the  ac- 
ceptance of  many  others  spontaneously  tendered  to  me,  did  I 
ever  apply  for  or  in  any  way  seek  official  promotion.  I 
would  not  feel  honored  by  the  highest  station  unless  it  seeks 
me  and  comes  sua  spoiitc. 

My  retirement  from  political  life  has  been  both   voluntary 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  69 

and  cheerful ;  and  I  have  enjoyed  it  without  envy  or  regret. 
No  disappointment  has  corroded  my  peace ;  no  sense  of  un- 
just pretermission  or  neglect  has  made  me  either  cynical  or 
resentful.  Whatever  may  have  been  my  position  or  personal 
fortune,  I  have,  without  the  slightest  deflection,  been  always 
true  to  the  same  principles,  and  have  never  faltered  in 
humble  efforts  in  my  sphere  to  rectify  the  popular  mind, 
regulate  the  popular  will,  and  promote  the  welfare  of  my 
country.  And  I  hope  to  die  in  the  assurance  that,  whilst 
my  position  in  the  public  eye,  and  my  unpatronized  personal 
power  have  not  enabled  me  to  do  or  to  be  all  I  wished,  I 
have  nevertheless  done  the  State  some  service,  and  my  coun- 
trymen some  good,  that  will  last  and  fructify  long  after  my 
name  may  be  forgotten. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Concerning  my  personal  character  and  habits  I  will  add 
only  a  few  words. 

When  I  married  I  was  five  feet  ten  inches  high,  and 
weighed  only  1 26  pounds ;  at  30  years  of  age  my  weight  was 
200  pounds,  at  which  it  continued  nearly  stationary  until 
lately;  it  is  now  (i 6th  November,  1863)  240  pounds.  Or- 
ganically sound  and  temperate  in  all  things,  I  have,  ever 
since  my  i/th  year,  enjoyed  unsurpassed  health  of  body  and 
mind.  During  the  last  56  years  of  my  life  I  have  abstained 
from  medicine,  and  relied  on  the  vis  viidicatri.v  naturae. 
When  out  of  order  my  remedy  has  been  abstinence  and  qui- 
escence. Since  my  marriage  I  have  never  felt  a  symptom  of 
headache  or  any  cerebral  excitement.  My  only  maladies 
have  been  a  chronic  inflammation  of  the  schnyderian  mem- 
brane degenerating  Into  nasal  polypus,  and  a  local  eruption 
on  the  skin,  which  I  have  considered  an  efflorescence  of  a 
scrofulous  taint.  With  these  exceptions  my  physical  health 
is  robust  and  perfect.  And  I  have  the  comforting  conviction 
that,  with  a  sound  body,  I  am  still  blessed  with  a  sound 
mind — wens  sana  in  corpore  sano.  In  my  own  judgment,  my 
intellectual  faculties,  though  sobered  and  mellowed  by  the 
autumn  of  age,  are  as  strong  and  as  clear  as  ever,  with  the 
exception  only  of  a  slight  decay  or  absence  of  memory ;  and 
this  impairment  I  ascribe  more  to  tobacco  than  to  senility. 
Since  my  early  manhood  I  have  used  this  narcotic  in  the 
double  form  of  chewing  and  smoking.  Conscious  that  the 
habit  was  vulgar,  inconvenient,  and  often  hurtful,  I  frequently 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


denied  myself  for  months,  and  without  much  sense  of  priva- 
tion ;  but  finding  that  I  increased  in  fat,  I  as  often  resumed 
the  use  of  the  stimulant.  And  I  yet  persist  in  the  prudent 
and  temperate  use  of  it,  not  so  much  as  an  exhilerant  or  sed- 
ative, as  a  medicine  to  prevent  nausea,  neutralize  malaria, 
and  restrain  a  constitutional  tendency  to  oppressive  corpu- 
lence. 

My  passions  were  strong  and  vehement  ;  but  I  soon  ac- 
quired habitual  control  over  all  of  them.  My  temperament 
was  bilious,  but  was  generally  considered  rather  phlegmatic, 
because  a  supreme  will  of  self-denial  restrained  and  generally 
subjugated  feelings  that  were  sometimes  almost  volcanic,  and, 
without  extraordinary  power  of  self  control  and  constant 
vigilance  and  discipline,  would  often  have  exploded  with 
eruptive  violence. 

I  never  fell  from  self-poised  uprightness,  and  I  was  never 
guilty  of  an  act  of  incontinence.  And,  while  ambitious  of 
the  fame  that  follows  worth,  I  never  sought  it  by  the  vulgar 
means  by  which  meretricious  notoriety  has,  in  all  time,  been 
easily  acquired  by  selfish  mediocrity,  impudent  upstartism, 
and  suppliant  prostitution.  I  never  had  any  prurience  for 
office  or  place,  and  never  held  one  with  self-satisfaction.  My 
sentiment  has  ever  been,  that  he  who  deserves  an  office 
would  do  better  without  it  ;  and  that  every  one  who  seeks 
or  accepts  a  trust  for  whfrh  he  is  not  qualified,  is  guilty  of 
incivism  and  makes  himself  ridiculous.  And  I  have  always 
admired  the  maxim  illustrated  by  Epaminondas  and  Wash- 
ington, that  place  does  not  honor  the  incumbent,  but  the 
incumbent  the  place  ;  and  that  the  place  should  seek  the 
man,  and  not  the  man  the  place.  And  my  practice  of  this 
-doctrine  is  the  only  reason  why  retirement  has  so  long  blessed 
my  domestic  peace.  I  have  more  than  once  declined  a  seat 
on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
seat  in  the  cabinet,  and  foreign  missions,  tendered  to  me 
•without  solicitation. 

I  know  all  the  highways  and  byways  which  successful  as- 


72  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

pirants  travel  to  spurious  honor.  But  rather  than  tread  those 
crooked  paths,  I  feel  with  Pope,  that  "the  post  of  honor  is 
a  private  station."  And  this,  therefore,  has  been  my  fortune 
for  years,  and  must  continue  with  my  life,  unless  unexpect- 
edly I  shall  be  called  to  some  public  service  neither  solicited 
nor  desired. 

Since  my  advent  to  the  bar,  forensic,  political,  and  judicial 
intrusions  on  my  time  have  not  allowed  me  secure  and  set- 
tled relaxation  sufficient  for  methodical  study.  My  reading, 
though  varied  and  extensive,  has  necessarily  been  rather  mis- 
cellaneous and  scattered.  My  political  principles,  matured 
and  settled  before  I  was  elected  to  Congress,  are  national  and 
conservative.  They  have  never  been  changed  in  any  essen- 
tial particular,  and  have,  under  all  circumstances  and  in  every 
instance,  guided  my  political  conduct. 

For  the  last  seven  years  I  have  studied  Theology  more 
than  all  other  subjects.  The  Bible  has  been  my  vadc  inccum, 
aided  by  collateral  illustrations, — geological,  metaphysical, 
and  historical, — and  by  exegetical  speculations — didactic  and 
polemical.  I  have  not  studied  as  a  rationalist  in  either  the 
dogmatic  or  scholastic  sense.  But,  within  the  limited  sphere 
of  human  power,  reason  has  guided  me  to  my  conclusions, 
so  as  to  make  the  Bible  harmonize  in  all  its  parts  and  exhibit 
a  simple,  rational,  and  God-like  system,  free  from  the  mys- 
ticism and  incongruities  of  the  sects -and  the  schools,  and 
relieved  of  most  of  its  imputed  mysteries.  Still  God  is  a 
mystery;  life,  both  animal  and  vegetable,  is  a  mystery ;  mind 
is  a  mystery;  even  matter  and  its  laws  are  mysteries.  Here 
philosophy,  guided  by  intuition  and  confirmed  by  faith  con- 
sistent with  reason,  though  beyond  its  range,  is  our  only 
guide.  And  on  this  foundation  I  build  my  theory  as  to 
Ontology,  Theosophy,  and  the  connection  between  an  om- 
nipresent, omniscient,  and  omnipotent  Spirit,  and  the 
subordinate  and  illimitable  universe  of  matter  and  mind. 
My  process  results  in  the  explosion  of  hylozoic  or  material 
pantheism,  of  the  scholastic  doctrines  of  the  fall,  of  original 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  73 

sin,  imputed  righteousness  and  imputed  sin,  of  the  incarna- 
tion and  crucifixion  of  God  as  expiatory  instead  of  propitiatory, 
the  garden  of  Eden,  the  serpent,  and  the  trees  of  life  and 
of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  and  predestination,  elec- 
tion, and  necessitarianism.  This  is  not  the  proper  place  for 
a  full  discussion  of  these  topics,  or  even  for  a  statement  of 
my  views  in  respect  to  any  of  them.  If  time  be  allowed  to 
me  I  may  hereafter  write  something  more  explicit  and  satis- 
factory. I  will  only  say  now  that  my  theories,  if  generally 
known  and  adopted,  would  rectify  many  errors  in  dogmatic 
orthodoxy,  exalt  our  conceptions  of  God  and  man,  commend 
the  pure  Christianity  of  Love,  remove  its  many  stumbling- 
blocks,  and  soon  renovate  society  and  evangelize  the  world. 
And  I  presume  to  add,  that  my  interpretation  of  the  Bible  is 
not  only  consistent  with,  but  is  required  by,  its  context  and 
pervading  spirit  as  an  inspired  whole. 

My  habits  have  always  been  self-denying,  and  my  tastes 
domestic.  Prudence  and  a  supreme  love  for  a  comfortable 
and  independent  mediocrity  of  fortune  constrained  me  to  for- 
bear habitually  the  gratification  of  incompatible  personal  and 
social  tastes.  I  have  been  careful  to  apply  my  personal 
means  to  objects  the  most  essential.  I  would  even  wear  old 
clothes  when  I  had  not  the  money  in  hand  to  buy  new  ones 
without  neglecting  more  essential  uses  of  it.  But  whenever 
I  had  money  not  needed  for  more  useful  and  important  ob- 
jects, I  used  it  freely  for  the  gratification  of  my  own  taste  or 
that  of  my  family  and  friends.  Ever  since  I  was  25  years 
old  I  took  care  to  have  always  some  money  on  hand,  so  as 
to  feel  free  and  independent.  I  was  always  punctual  in 
fulfilling  my  contracts,  and  all  my  engagements  and  appoint- 
ments. And  my  systematic  and  self  denying  economy — 
never  degenerating  into  parsimony — enabled  me  to  live  as 
well  as  any  rational  man  would  ever  desire,  and  to  appro- 
priate to  public  and  private  charities  and  social  benefactions 
often  more,  but  never  less,  than  five  hundred  dollars  a  year. 
My  wife,  very  domestic  and  excellent  in  household  manage- 


74  LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


ment,  was  also  prudently  economical,  but  far  from  being 
selfish  or  sordid.  Her  domestic  cares  and  housewifery  were 
never  directed  or  intruded  on  by  me.  She  was  enthroned  as 
queen  of  the  house, — kitchen,  parlor,  and  all — and  in  that 
sphere  her  will  was  my  law.  I  never  either  dictated  or  com- 
plained of  her  household  administration,  or  directed  or 
objected  to  any  expenditure  she  ever  made  for  her  person, 
her  house,  or  her  table. 

When  business  did  not  call  me  away,  I  staid  at  home 
habitually  and  with  but  few  exceptions,  and  was  seldom  ab- 
sent at  night. 

My  habit  of  writing,  like  that  of  reading,  was  rapid  and 
irregular.  Whatever  I  wrote  was  accomplished  per  saltfin, 
and  without  copying  or  much  revision.  I  wrote  with  too 
much  celerity.  Even  my  judicial  opinions,  though  well 
considered  and  matured  before  I  put  pen  to  paper,  were 
written  currentc  calamo,  so  as  to  finish  in  an  hour  what  might 
prudently  have  occupied  a  whole  day.  As  an  illustration,  I 
will  only  say  that  the  opinion  in  the  perpresture  case  of  L. 
and  O.  R.  R.  vs.  Applegate,  &c.,  covering  twenty-two  pages 
in  8th  Dana's  Reports,  was  written  out  from  beginning  to 
end  in  six  hours.  The  duties  of  the  Appellate  bench,  when 
I  was  upon  it,  were  exceedingly  onerous,  and  required  ex- 
traordinary dispatch  to  avoid  vexatious  delays.  Anxious  to 
keep  up  with  the  docket,  I  have  often  labored  at  the  oar  all 
night ;  and,  whether  at  home  or  at  court,  I  seldom  enjoyed 
even  the  rest  of  one  Sabbath  day  for  nearly  fifteen  years. 
My  labors  were  constant  and  herculean.  And  I  regret  that 
I  permitted  my  anxiety  for  the  dispatch  of  justice  to  jeopard 
my  health,  disturb  my  comfort,  and  subject  my  judicial  rep- 
utation to  unnecessary  criticism. 

And  now,  on  my  73d  anniversary,  I  would  close  this  mea- 
ger sketch.  It  is  possible,  if  I  live  much  longer,  that  I  may 
not  only  revise  and  correct,  but  enlarge  it.  However  this 
may  be,  I  desire  that  some  surviving  friend,  who  knows  me 
well,  will,  after  I  ta'.ze  my  leave  of  earth,  fill  up  the  outline  I 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  75 

leave  behind,  and  furnish  a  fuller  and  more  complete  biogra- 
phy than  I  ought  to,  if  I  could,  write  of  myself.  And  such 
a  memoir  I  wish  published,  together  with  the  revised  con- 
tents of  my  "Scrap  Book,"  and  with  the  addition  of  all 
other  documents  I  may  leave  marked  for  that  end  in  my 
portfolio.  And  the  entire  work,  cost  what  it  may,  I  require 
to  be  done  in  the  best  typographical  style  of  the  very  best 
American  publisher,  with  the  best  style  of  paper,  and  my 
autograph  and  photograph  prefixed.  All  this  I  desire,  not 
in  a  vain  hope  of  posthumous  fame,  but  in  the  belief  that 
it  may  be  my  best  legacy  to  my  descendants,  useful  to 
surviving  friends,  and  of  some  service  to  my  succeeding 
countrymen. 


76  LIFE    OF   GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

AUGUST  30th,  1865. 

On  the  1 3th  of  January,  1865,  my  admirable  and  devoted 
wife  died  of  pneumonia,  and  on  the  25th  of  the  same  month 
she  was  removed  from  the  home  she  had  so  long  graced,  and 
was  laid  side  by  side  with  our  darling  son  George,  in  our 
vault  in  the  Lexington  cemetery,  where  I  expect  soon  to 
join  them  and  repose,  dust  to  dust,  until  the  eventful  day  of 
the  restitution  of  all  things,  when  I  hope  we  shall  all,  with 
other  kindred,  once  more  and  forever  live  together  in  the 
brighter  and  happier  Jwme  of  all  those  most  sorely  tried  on 
Earth  to  be  blessed  in  Heaven.  After  a  most  happy  and 
endearing  cohabitation  for  more  than  fifty-five  years,  which 
had  cemented  us  as  one,  this  last  and  severest  of  all  my 
many  afflictive  bereavements,  like  the  separation  of  the  soul 
and  the  body,  has  overwhelmed  my  manhood  and  left  me, 
in  old  age,  desolate,  cheerless,  and  hopeless  of  earthly  hap- 
piness. Uncommonly  beautiful  in  early  life,  and  always 
modest,  neat,  and  truthful,  devoted  to  home  and  fond  of  do- 
mestic cares  and  employments,  my  lost  partner  was  a  model 
wife,  mother,  mistress,  and  friend — conspicuous  in  all  the 
virtues  and  feminine  graces  which  most  adorn  and  dignify 
womanhood.  The  memory  of  a  woman  so  admirable  and 
true,  deserves  the  first  place  in  this  brief  memorial  of  her 
husband,  begun  and  nearly  finished  when  he  hoped  that  she 
would  survive  to  close  his  eyes  and  embalm  him  with  her 


LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


affectionate  tears.  Therefore,  in  the  discharge  of  this  sacred 
duty,  mournfully  left  peculiarly  and  impressively  for  him,  he 
cannot  do  less  than  to  place  her  by  his  side  by  transcribing 
herein  the  following  short  and  imperfect,  but,  as  far  as  it 
goes,  true  and  faithful  obituary  by  her  oldest  son: — 

OBITUARY. 

Affection  and  justice  alike  prompt  this  brief  memorial  of  a  more  than 
friend  by  one  who  knew  and  loved  her  long  and  well. 

ELEANOR  J.  BAINBRIDGE— born  on  lake  Seneca,  New  York, 
April  the  27th,  1794 — was  the  daughter  of  DR.  PETER  BAINBRIDGE,  an 
eloquent  Baptist  minister  and  eminent  physician,  and  of  ELEANOR  JAMES 
MclNxosH,  only  daughter  of  Gen.  ALEXANDER  MC!NTOSH,  of  the  Revo- 
lution, a  wealthy  planter  of  South  Carolina.  Both  parents  were  of 
Scotch  descent. 

Dr.  Bainbridge  settled  in  Lancaster,  Ky.,  in  the  year  1799,  where,  on 
the  28th  day  of  November,  1809,  Eleanor,  then  only  fifteen  years  and  five 
months  old,  was  married  to  GEORGE  ROBERTSON,  whose  age  was  nine- 
teen years  and  ten  days.  They  commenced  their  married  life  with  no 
other  fortune  than  the  natural  gifts  with  which  God  had  blessed  them. 
By  habits  of  rare  industry,  prudence,  and  self-denial,  they  lived  prosper- 
ously and  happily  together  for  fifty-five  years,  one  month,  and  sixteen 
days;  when,  on  the  I3th  of  January,  1865,  after  an  illness  of  nine  days, 
she  died  of  Pneumonia,  at  their  residence  in  Lexington,  Ky.,  whither  they 
had  removed  on  the  4th  of  July,  1835. 

They  had  ten  children,  five  of  each  sex;  only  one-half  of  them  survived 
their  mother,  who  left  them  and  a  large  number  of  grandchildren  and 
great-grand  children,  to  mourn  their  irreparable  loss,  and  imitate  her 
precious  example  as  wife,  mother,  Christian,  friend. 

Her  neatness,  modesty,  justice,  and  high  regard  for  truth,  won  the  es- 
teem and  love  of  all  who  knew  her  well.  Whatever  her  husband  has 
accomplished  is  due  as  much  to  her  untiring  energy  and  faithful  co-opera- 
tion as  to  his  own  exertions. 

In  early  life,  the  beauty  of  her  face  and  form  was  of  the  highest  order; 
and  she  retained  her  fine  mold,  and  expression,  her  activity  and  maiden 
erectness  to  the  last.  She  was  resigned  to  death,  only  wishing  to  live 
longer  for  her  husband,  whom  she  grieved  to  leave  alone,  in  his  old  age 
hopeless  of  earthly  comfort.  In  the  year  1826  she  became  a  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  a  perfect  knowledge  of  her  meek  and  steady 
faith  and  consistent  life,  gives  full  assurance  to  her  family  that  she  has 
entered  upon  that  eternal  rest  which  remains  for  the  people  of  God. 

It  is  but  a  just  tribute  to  her  memory  to  publish  herewith  the  following 
extract  t'rom  a  letter  of  condolence  to  her  husband,  from  one  of  the  purest 
and  most  distinguished  of  the  public  men  of  Kentucky,  who  knew  her 


78  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROPERTSON. 

from  her  girlhood  to  her  death.     After  alluding  to  the  intelligence  of  her 
death,  he  says: 

"What  a  rush  of  recollections  the  sad  event  has  driven  through  my 
mind.  We  were  schoolmates  at  Lancaster,  when  the  most  beautiful  Ellen 
Bainbridge  was  just  budding  into  -womanhood — the  admired  mid  /v/Vrv</ 
of  all  her  associates.  How  gracefully  and  perfectly  she  performed  c:vr  v 
duty  of  a  wife,  \  well  knew  from  observations  when  a  guest  in  your  hos- 
pitable mansion.  You  and  Ellen  lived  together  truly  as  one,  more  than 
half  a  century.  Your  loss  is  irreparable  on  earth.  Hope  of  a  re-union  in 
Heaven  is  the  only  ground  of  consolation.  I  mourn  with  vou.  I  find  that 
the  world,  to  me,  contains  one  friend  less;  and  those  of  my  years  have 
none  to  spare. 

"  \\'e  have  spent  so  many  days  with  each  other  as  boys  and  as  men — 
associating  as  Legislators  and  as  Judges,  that  I  am  sure  vou  will  not  re- 
gard me  as  obtruding  on  your  grief  by  expressing  my  heartfelt  sympathy 
in  your  bereavement." 

And  all  who  knew  her  as  well  as  this  good  and  accomplished  man, 
would  concur  in  his  testimony  of  her  worth.  With  such  memorials,  her 
name,  her  virtues,  and  her  model  life,  will  long  be  embalmed  in  the  hearts 
of  her  many  descendants  and  friends.  A  SON. 

And,  as  our  youngest  son,  who  was  her  idol  and  whose 
death  ^he  constantly  mourned  to  the  last,  lies  entombed  by 
her  side,  I  choose,  as  befitting  and  just,  to  transmit  them 
together  by  copying  the  following  slight  biographical  sketch 
of  him  and  paternal  monody,  addressed  to  his  departed  spirit 
eight  years  ago: 

MEMORIAL  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON,  JR. 

My  youngest  child — a  son — was  born  in  Lexington,  Ky., 
on  the  1 2th  of  May,  1838,  when  his  mother  was  45  years 
old  and  I  was  in  the  48th  year  of  my  age.  My  family  wished 
to  name  him  George;  but  as  I  had  lost  two  sons  of  that 
name,  they  were  prevented  by  a  superstitious  apprehension 
from  giving  that  unlucky  name,  and  called  him  by  the  pseu- 
donym, Boson.  But  when,  in  his  seventh  year,  he  was  asked 
for  his  name  by  his  first  teacher,  he  answered,  George;  and 
•  thus  he  named  himself,  and  that  nomination  was  ratified  by 
our  family,  and  ever  afterwards  recognized,  though  at  home 
he  was  generally  called  and  known  by  the  first  imputed  name, 
"Boson." 

In  form  and  expression  he  was  remarkably  handsome, 
even  beautiful.  And  no  son  was  ever  more  filial,  docile,  or 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  79 

affectionate.  He  was  the  pride  and  hope  of  the  family,  and 
was  favorably  observed  by  all  who  saw,  and  beloved  by  all 
who  knew  him.  Though  indulged  in  all  his  tastes  and  de- 
sires, he  never  became  infected  with  an  immoral  principle,  or 
acquired  a  bad  habit.  He  was  always  as  amiable  and  gentle 
as  a  lamb,  and  as  generous  as  the  sun.  And  if  he  ever  ut- 
tered an  impudent  word,  did  an  ungenerous  act,  or  cherished 
an  unkind  feeling,  I  never  heard  of  it.  He  was  devoted  to 
his  parents,  and  distinguished  for  his  attachment  to  his  broth- 
ers and  sisters  and  their  children ;  and  we  were  all  peculiarly 
devoted  to  him.  Among  his  various  graces  he  had  exquis- 
ite taste  for  music,  and  played  very  sweetly  on  the  violin. 

In  robust  health,  he  was  sent,  in  September,  ^855,  to 
Mr.  Sayre's  select  school  at  Frankfort,  when,  either  from 
accident  or  severe  exercise,  he  had,  on  one  occasion,  in  De- 
cember, a  slight  hemorrhage  from  the  lungs;  and  exposure 
to  cold  at  home  during  the  succeeding  Christmas  holidays 
brought  on  a  severe  attack  of  pneumonia,  from  the  effects  of 
which,  although  for  some  time  he  appeared  to  be  relieved, 
he  never  recovered.  For  some  months  he  manifested  symp- 
toms of  bronchial  inflammation,  and  we  were  apprehensive 
that,  from  sympathy  or  otherwise,  his  lungs  were  in  danger ; 
but  I  never  believed  that  they  were  fatally  or  essentially 
diseased.  He  was  prudent  and  careful  in  the  use  of  all  res- 
torative means,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1856  he  was  increasing 
in  flesh  and  strength,  seemed  restored  to  healthful  appetite 
and  digestion,  could  take  his  accustomed  exercise  in  the  air 
on  foot  and  on  horseback,  and  up  hill  and  down  hill,  without 
apparent  fatigue  or  inconvenience,  and  his  blooming  color 
was  rapidly  returning  to  his  cheeks.  We  thought  he  was 
almost  out  of  danger,  and  he  thought  so  too.  Expecting  to 
go  with  his  mother  South  in  a  few  days,  he  went  down  into 
the  city  on  the  evening  of  Thursday,  the  nth  of  December, 
1856,  and  bought  a  new  black  coat  and  some  other  things, 
preparatory  to  his  contemplated  trip.  The  evening  was  damp 
and  chilly,  and  he  did  not  return  until  fifteen  minutes  after 


80  LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

five  o'clock,  or  nearly  dark.  We  had  several  lady  visitors 
that  evening,  for  whom  he  played  with  admirable  execution, 
at  the  request  of  one  of  them,  "Old  Folks  at  Home,"  and 
"Rural  Felicity,"  in  the  order  just  stated;  and  these  were 
his  last  on  earth.  He  then  retired  to  his  mother's  chamber, 
in  which  he  had  been  for  some  time  sleeping;  and,  after 
cheerful  conversation  with  Dr.  Bell,  undressed  for  bed  about 
nine  o'clock.  He  slept  quietly  until  disturbed  by  our  entry 
for  the  purpose  of  going  to  bed.  He  then  conversed  with 
his  mother,  and  said  he  felt  quite  well.  But  shortly  after- 
terwards  he  was  disturbed  by  a  cough,  which  continued  at 
intervals,  with  increased  violence,  until  about  half-past  four 
o'clock,  when,  after  a  severe  paroxysm,  he  called  his  mother 
and  told  her  he  had  coughed  up  some  blood.  She  instantly 
arose  and  made  two  abortive  efforts  to  make  light.  Seeing 
that  she  was  agitated,  he,  sitting  up  in  his  bed,  instructed 
her  how  to  use  the  match,  whereby  she  succeeded  in  lighting 
a  candle,  when,  with  extreme  trepidation,  she  ejaculated, 
"Yes,  my  son,  you  have  thrown  up  blood."  Whereupon  he 
said,  "Send  for  the  doctor."  While  she  was  calling  fora 
servant  I  went  to  our  son,  and  as  I  approached  him,  still  sit- 
ting, he  said,  "/  cant  get  my  brcatli ;"  and  these  were  his 
last  words.  Sinking  into  my  arms  he  expired  just  as  his 
mother  re-entered  and  approached  his  bed. 

More  surprise  and  grief  were  never  felt  or  manifested  than 
followed  this  terrible  bereavement.  Even  Dr.  Bell  fell  on 
the  floor  apparently  dead,  and  co/dial  sympathy  seemed  to 
be  universal,  extending  to  the  colored  people,  many  of  whom 
manifested  deep  sorrow.  His  devoted  mother  is  even  yet, 
eighteen  months  after  the  shock,  crushed  in  body  and  mind, 
and  feels  hopeless  of  restoration  of  vigor  to  the  one  or  cheer- 
fulness to  the  other.  And  my  own  condition  is  that  of 
settled  melancholy.  Mournful  memories  haunt  me  wherever 
I  may  be,  day  and  night,  without  intermission.  It  is  idle  to 
tell  me  this  is  wrong:  I  know  it;  but  I  cannot  help  it.  No 
effort  of  philosophy  or  will  which  I  can  command  affords  any 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  8 1 


•essential  or  permanent  relief.  I  know  that  soon  the 
separation  would  be  inevitable  under  the  most  favorable  cir- 
cumstances. And  the  fact  that  grief  will  not  restore  my 
loving  son,  wipes  away  no  tears,  but  only  makes  them  flow 
the  faster.  No  father  ever  lost  a  son  of  more  endearing 
graces,  more  suited  to  his  tastes,  or  more  needful  to  his  de- 
clining life.  Attractive  traits  of  character,  growing  habits, 
cementing  associations,  and  blasted  hopes — all  peculiar,  in- 
communicable, and  countless — combined  to  inflict  a  wound 
immedicable  by  human  skill,  or  manly  energy,  or  earthly 
hopes. 

I  had  lost  father  and  mother,  and  brothers  and  sisters  (all 
except  one),  and  four  interesting  and  lovely  children,  among 
whom  was  a  daughter  eighteen,  and  a  son  six  years  of  age, 
and  for  each  and  all  of  these  visitations  I  felt  deeply  and 
long,  and  yet  daily  feel  transient  sorrow ;  but  my  last  be- 
reavement has  been  and  yet  is,  for  nameless  reasons,  more 
afflictive  than  all  that  preceded  it.  Even  yet  my  house  looks 
desolate,  and  every  thing  in  it  suggests  memories  of  my  dear 
George.  Rallying  all  my  manhood,  I  try  to  be  resigned; 
but  nature  rebels,  and  I  can  only  command  apparent  seren., 
ity,  without  hope  of  cheerfulness  or  capacity  for  earthly 
enjoyment.  I  have  exhausted  philosophy.  Faith  in  God 
and  his  salvation  is  the  only  hope,  and,  with  vivid  and  assur- 
ing faith,  I  have  not  yet  been  comforted.  I  have  long  been 
striving  for  it,  but  have  not  yet  been  blessed  with  such  as  I 
feel  to  be  vital  and  consolatory. 

George,  though  not  nineteen  years  old,  was  nearly  six  feet 
high,  of  perfect  form,  and,  when  in  good  health,  would  have 
weighed  one  hundred  and  forty-five  pounds.  His  hair  was 
black  and  silk  like ;  his  eyes  dark  brown,  beaming  a  benig- 
nity peculiarly  attractive ;  his  cheeks,  when  ruddy  in  health, 
were  smooth,  blushing,  and  redolent  as  the  spring  rose ;  and 
his  countenance  was  a  mirror  of  the  chasest  emotions  of  the 
best  and  purest  heart  Had  I  the  power,  I  would  not  have 
altjred  him  in  head,  heart,  or  form. 
5 


82  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

After  he  died  he  was  kept  in  our  parlor,  in  an  open  me- 
tallic casket,  until  the  9th  of  January  (one  month),  and  was 
then,  with  the  body  of  his  nephew  and  companion,  William 
R.  Letcher,  conveyed,  side  by  side,  in  hearses  followed  by 
a  long  procession,  to  the  Lexington  cemetery,  where  their 
bodies  were  deposited  and  sleep  together  in  death,  as  they 
walked  together  in  life.  They  rest  with  my  grand-daughter, 
Ellen  M.  Troutman,  in  my  family  vault;  and  who  will  follow 
next  and  repose  by  their  sides  God  only  knows. 

As  soon  as  I  felt  calm  enough  to  write  I  composed  a 
monody,  addressed  to  my  son,  which  was  completed  on  the 
nineteenth  anniversary  of  his  birth,  May  I2th,  1^57,  and  is 
transcribed  into  this  little  book.  On  a  sober  revision  of  it 
this  day,  I  indorse  every  sentiment  and  fact  it  contains,  and 
believe  that,  as  far  as  it  goes,  it  is  a  faithful  portrait,  without 
the  exaggeration  of  panegyric  or  apparent  bias.  And  it  is  a 
true,  though  imperfect,  expression  of  the  feelings  of  his 
crushed  mother  and  saddened  father. 

G.    ROBFKTSON. 

April  i6th,   1858. 

LEXINGTON,    Kv.,    May    I2th,   1857. 
A  FATHER'S  ADDRESS  TO  HIS  DEAD  SON.* 


*Only  about  half  of  this  mon.-dy  is  here  »iven.  The  other  portions 
of  it  are  an  expansion  or  reiteration,  in  different  form,  of  the  same  >>enti- 
ments.  , 

My  son!   my  son!   my  youti^e-t  -on! 

Of  faultless  mould  ;m<l  heart  and  form, 
Whose  graces  counties-,   blessings  won. 

Whose  model   life  \\  as  clotullos  morn. 

My  son!   my  handsome,  darling  bov! 

Thy  mother's  pride,    thy  father's  hope; 
Their  prop,  their  comfort,  and  their  joy, 

Ihe  star  of  their  declining  slope. 

Born  late  to  bless  their  lonelv  a«-e. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  83 

To  grace  their  home  and  cheer  their  hearth, 
To  gild  with  light  their  closing  page, 
And  hallow  their  last  days  on  earth. 

Benignant,  lovely,   free  fiom  strife, 

In  noble  manhood's  fragrant  dawn; 
In  buoyant,  blooming,   hopeful  life, 

Unwarned,  from  earth  thy  soul  was  drawn. 

With  lightning  speed  the  message  came, 
That  called  thee  from  thy  mother's  side, 

And  stereotyped  thy  LIVING  NAME 
On  hearts  forgetless  in  Time's  tide. 

Couldst  thou  have  lived  'till  we  had  died, 

To  close  thy  dying  parents'  eyes, 
How  blessed  had  been  that  eventide 

That  cheerless  now  in  sorrow  dies. 

Last  rose  of  Summer!    Autumn's  hope, 
That  Autumn  comes,  and  thou  art  gone, 

And  left  old  age  behind  to  grope 
A  bloomless  down-hill  all  alone. 

If  childish  innocence  and  love, 

Chaste  life  untinged  with  impure  leaven, 

Might  fit  a  soul  for  peace  above, 

Thine  rests,  dear  George,  secure  in  heaven. 

Thy  fiddle,  tuneless,   now  alone, 

Thy  clothes,  thy  letters,  and  thy  books, 

Daily  revive,  with  plaintive  tone, 

Loved  memories  of  thy  ways  and  looks. 

Where'er  we  go,  whate'er  we  see, 

Chairs,  tables,  halls,  and  porch  and  gate; 

All,  all  we  meet,  remind  of  thee, 

And  seem  to  weep  our  mournful  fate: 

At  morning,  noon,  and  solemn  night, 
Thy  cheerless  parents,  side  by  side, 
Fill  with  their  sighs,   for  lost  delight, 


84  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

The  room  where  thou  -cert  born — and 

Our  house,  now  silent  as  thy  tomb; 

Our  hearth,  bereft  of  all  its  glee; 
So  cheerful  once!  all  draped   in  gloom, 

Have  lost  their  life  enshrined  with  thee. 

Now  home,   dear  spot  with  magnet  sure, 
Charmed  sanctuary,   sacred  shrine 

Of  love  and   peace  and  virtue  pure, 
And  tranquil   jovs  almost  divine: 

That  home  thy  presence  made  so  >\veet. 

Is  cheerful  home.   "Sweet  Home."   no  more; 
Its  desolations  now  we  meet 

In 'every  room,  at  everv  door. 

To  deeply  mourn  tor  such  a  los». 

Which  nothing  earthly  can  supply, 
Is  nature's  cry  at  nature's  cross, 

Love  planted   here  to  melt  and  try. 

Philosophy  cannot  console, 

And  time  alone  can  cicati  i/.e, 
But  faith  may  heavenly  love  unroll, 

And  trust  in  (jod  may  harmonize. 

This  grievous  stroke  of  chastening  lo\  e 
Melts  all  our  hearts  and  weans  from  lu-t. 

And  calls  us  loud  to  look  above 
For  hopeful  rising  from  the  du>t. 

No  longer  here  we  love  to  stav. 

Our  path  so  dark,  our  time  >o  short. 

We  long  to  find  the  narrow  wax- 
That  leads  bruis'd    hearts  to  heaven's   safe  port. 

Thy  sudden  death  has  proved   how  frail. 

How  fleeting  all  things  here  below; 
Then,  while  our  loss  we  must  bewail, 

We  pray  for  blessings  from  the  blow. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  85 

May  thy  example,  ne'er  forgot, 

Draw  us  from  worldly  cares  and  ties, 
And  may  it  be  our  pleasing  lot 

To  rest  our  bodies  where  thine  lies. 

Then — hard  to  say — Adieu,  adieu! 

Till  death  shall  come  again  to  sever 
Thy  parents  from  this  footstool,  too. 

And  bring  us  all,  and  more,   together. 

That  hope  is  now  the  gleaming  star 

To  guide  our  tottering  steps  above, 
And  lead  us  safely  to  that  bar 

Where  reign  eternal  light  and  love. 

For  time,  dear  son  !  a  last  farewell  ! 

But  to  forget  thee  ? — never,  never/ 
Soon,  how  soon,  we  cannot  tell, 

We'll  meet  again  to  live  forever. 

GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

The  following  tribute  to  the  memory  of  George  Robert- 
son, Junior,  was  written  by  the  widow  of  Col.  Wm.  R. 
McKee,  who  fell  at  Buena  Vista : 

Better  are  the  dead,  which  are  already  dead,  than  the  living,  which  are 
yet  alive,  saith  the  voice  of  Divine  Inspiration — yet  seldom  does  the  heart 
of  the  bereaved  mourner  respond  to  the  sentiment.  When  the  aged  and 
weary  pilgrim  sinks  to  his  quiet  resting  place,  we  bow  in  silence  to  the 
mercy  of  Providence,  and  repine  not  at  the  dispensation.  The  bounds 
allotted  to  human  existence  have  been  enjoyed,  and  an  extension  of  life 
would  be  an  extension  of  misery.  But  far  different  are  the  feelings  called 
forth,  when  youth,  and  beauty  and  strength  are  prostrated  by  the  cold 
hand  of  death.  Then  it  is  that  the  heart,  in  its  bitterness,  exclaims:  "Dark 
and  mysterious  are  thy  works,  O,  God!  and  thy  ways  past  finding  out.'' 
Though  the  mind  may  be  chastened  to  endure,  and  every  rebellious 
thought  be  subjected,  yet  sorrow  is  ours,  and  we  are  permitted  to  indulge 
it — it  is  not  the  offspring  of  guilt,  for  He  sorrowed  who  never  knew  sin. 

Such  were  the  reflections  which  crowded  upon  us  whilst  contemplating 
the  shrouded  form  of  GEORGE  ROBERTSON,  JR  ,  and  the  tears 
which  followed  were  allowed  to  fl  w  unchecked,  for  he  was  worthy  of 
them.  Friendship  demands  no  lengthened  tribute  to  the  virtues  of  the 
deceased — his  eulogy  is  already  written  on  the  hearts  of  all' who  knew  him; 


86  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

and  it  needs  not  that  we  sift  his  ashes  to  seek  for  golden  memories  of  his 
character,  they  were  stamped  on  every  page  of  his  fleeting  life.  Possess- 
ing the  vivacity  of  voutli  without  its  volatility;  enjoying  iis  pleasures 
without  its  dissipation;  and  using  the  world  so  as  not  to  ahuse  it,  he  was 
at  once  an  example  to  the  young,  and  an  object  of  admiration  to  the  aged. 
But  the  silver  cord  has  been  loosed,  and  the  golden  bowl  has  been  broken 
— the  dust  has  returned  to  the  earth  as  it  \va>.  whiUt  the  glorious  eoiibola- 
•tion  is  ours,  that  his  ^piiit  has  returned  to  God  who  gave  it.  M. 

Having  ten  children — five  of  each  sex — \vc  lost  six  of  them 
in  the  following  order: 

1.  Our  second  son,    Bainbridge,   a  large,   grey-eyed  child, 
born  December  ijth,   1822,  and  died  February  Qth,   1823. 

2.  Our    fifth    daughter,     Martha    Jane,    a    beautiful    and 
sprightly  blue  eyed  girl,   of  fair  skin,   born  July  24th,   1824, 
and  died  May  i/th,   1826. 

3.  George  S.  McKee,  a  black-eyed,   handsome  and  prom- 
ising boy,    born   November  2d,  1827,    and   died   December 
I2th,   1832. 

4.  Mary  Oden  Eppes,    born  May  $th,  1815,    and  died  of 
cholera  June   2Oth,    1833.       She   was   the   largest   and  most 
majestic  in  form  and  port  of  all  the  daughters.      Admirable 
mould,  fair  skin,  blue  eyes,  auburn  hair,  capacious  head,  and 
beaming  face,   combined  to  make  her  a  favorite,   and  talents 
of  a  high  grade  assured  a  distinguished  destiny,  had  she  lived 
long  enough  to  allow  full  development  of  the  ran-  dements 
of    her  girlhood   character  and    promise.       Her    premature 
death  was  a  sad  bereavement   to   her  parents  and  other  kin- 
dred and  friends.       Her  remains,   together  with  those  of  her 
sister  Martha  Jane,   and  her  brothers  Bainbridge  and  George 
S.  McKee,   were,    in  September,   1866,   disinterred,   and,    in- 
closed in  a  common  box,    now  rest  with  their  mother  in  the 
family  vault. 

All  these  births  and  deaths  occurred  in  Lancaster,  Ky. 

5.  Our  youngest  child,    George,    already  described,    and 
who  was  born  and  died  in  the  same  room,  in  Lexington,  Ky. 

6.  James  Bainhridgc,   of  whom  the  following  obituary  will 
present  a  condensed  outline : 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  87 

AN   HUMBLE  OFFERING  AT  THE  SHRINE  OF  GENIUS. 
[From  the  Lexington  Statesman.] 

The  memory  of  JAMES  BAINBRIDGE  ROBERTSON,  deceased, 
deserves  more  than  an  ordinary  tribute  of  surviving  affection.  His  histo- 
ry may  be  useful  to  all  young  men  of  exuberant  talents,  and  will  exemplify 
.the  necessity  of  vigilant  pilotage  and  stern  self-control. 

Born  in  Lancaster,  Ky  ,  on  the  4th  of  October,  1831,  he  died  suddenly) 
in  the  city  of  Lexington,  on  the  night  of  the  2;th  of  February,  1867,  leav- 
ing an  admirable  widow  and  an  interesting  daughter  and  son  of  rare 
promise.  From  his  early  boyhood  he  exhibited  extraordinary  talents  of 
peculiar  docility,  brilliancy  and  power.  Without  any  other  than  solitary 
self-tuition,  he  had  learned  to  read  before  his  parents  knew  that  he  under- 
stood the  English  alphabet;  and  in  a  few  weeks  after  he  was  sent  to  his 
first  elementary  school:  his  teacher  advised  his  mother  to  place  him  under 
.higher  tutelage  in  some  other  institution.  He  was  accordingly  sent  to  the 
City  School,  and  thence  soon  translated  to  Transylvania  University 
where,  before  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  he  graduated  with  signal  honor; 
.and,  in  his  twentieth  year,  his  scholastic  course  was  crowned  with  the 
Bachalaureate  Diploma  of  the  Law  Department  of  the  same  institution. 
In  his  whole  scholastic  pupilage  he  was  first  in  every  class  of  every  graje 
and  developed  equal  aptitude  for  every  branch  of  science.  When  he  left 
college  to  start  his  career  of  responsible  manhood,  his  prospects  of  eminent 
usefulness  and  distinction  were  as  bright  and  auspicious  as  ever  dawned 
on  the  opening  pathway  of  any  native-born  Kentuckiau.  (Joed  habits,  a 
handsome  and  majestic  person,  graceful  and  affable  manners,  cultivated 
taste,  thorough  education,  a  true  and  benevolent  heart,  and  a  commanding 
intellect,  fitted  him  for  the  palm  of  victory  in  the  race  of  life;  and  thus 
armored,  he  might  have  contemplated  his  future,  as  his  friends  did,  with 
high  hopes  of  illustrating  his  lineage,  of  stereotyping  his  name  on  the  roll 
of  honorable  fame,  and  of  blessing  his  country  and  his  kind. 

But  his  genial  nature  inclined  him  too  much  to  social  sympathy  and 
convivial  associations,  which,  before  he  had  entered  the  arena  of  profes- 
sional competition,  partially  unhinged  his  habits  of  systematic  industry, 
stifled  his  ambition,  and  unsettled  all  fixed  purposes  of  progress  in  any 
useful  pursuit  of  proper  manhood;  and  thus,  too  irresolute  for  the  neces- 
sary self-denial,  he,  like  many  of  the  most  gifted  men  in  every  age' 
gradually  trifled  with  his  powers  and  drifted  on  the  sea  of  life  without  a 
rudder,  compass,  or  anchor,  and  his  history  and  destiny  were  the  results 
of  magnificent  talents,  unpiloted  by  a  vigilant  and  self-denying  prudence. 
During  his  unfortunate  probation  he  acquired  a  large  fund  of  miscellaneous 
knowledge  by  observation  and  extensive  reading  of  almost  ever}-  thing 
worth  observing  and  reading.  Polite  literature,  in  all  its  forms,  was  his 
favorite  study.  He  wrote  much  for  newspapers  and  periodicals.  His  style 
of  writing  was  versatile,  chaste,  and  graceful;  and  his  colloquial  style  was 
copious,  rich,  and  exceedingly  interesting  and  attractive.  Notwithstand- 


88  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 


ing  his  prodigal  waste  of  moral  power,  his  veracity  and  integrity  were 
never  doubted,  and  he  died,  as  he  had  lived,  with  a  host  of  devoted  friends' 
and  without  an  enemy.  Had  his  sunny  heart  and  massive  head  been 
guided  by  prudence,  he  might,  under  a  fostering  Providence,  have 
achieved  whatever  man  could  do,  and  embalmed  his  name  in  the  heart  of 
posterity. 

But  his  fitful  drama  and  its  closing  scene  impressively  illustrate  Watt's 
photographic  picture  of  all  human  life  on  earth: 

''How  vain  are  all  tilings  here  below? 
How  false  and  yet  how  fair? 
Each  pleasure  has  its   poison  too, 
And  every  sweet  a  snare." 

And,  although,  in  infinite  wisdom  and  inscrutable  benevolence,  it  mav 
have  been  best  for  all  that  the  subject  of  this  brief  memoir  should  have 
died  when  and  as  he  did,  yet  many  surviving  friends  mourn  over  the  sad 
event  and  will  hallow  his  grave  with  their  tears. 

To  rescue  his  memory  from  unjust  obloquy  or  ha-tv  oblivion,  a  friend, 
-who  knew  him  well  from  his  birth  to  his  death,  now  oilers  this  imperfect 
tribute  at  the  tomb  of  his  shipwrecked  genius. 

These  dead  children  have  been,  and  s'i,'  are,  the  melan- 
choly subjects  of  my  occasional  meditation  every  day.  .But 
the  death  of  my  wife  is  more  crushing  t'tan  ail  preceding 
blows.  My  only  consolation  for  these  I'n  vidential  bereave- 
ments is  the  hope  that  they  will  be  of  short  duration,  and 
that  soon  I  and  all  mine  will  be  re-united  in  a  happier  state 
forever. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  89 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

At  the  August  election,  1864,  I  was  elected  an  Appellate 
Judge,  by  surprise  and  against  my  will.  The  extraordinary 
circumstances  characterizing  that  event  induced  an  explana- 
tory address  to  the  electors,  which  may  be  seen  in  the  next 
enlarged  edition  of  my  "Scrap  Book." 

The  office  was  unwelcome  to  me,  and  the  duties  are  irk- 
some and  onerous.  But  the  experiment  so  far  has  gratified 
me  with  the  conviction  that  my  faculties  are  as  well  adapted 
to  the  station  as  they  were  in  their  noontide.  But  the  tran- 
quillity and  locomotive  liberty  more  congenial  with  my  age, 
incline  me  to  abdicate  as  soon  as  I  can  do  so  gracefully. 

As  a  slight  memorial  of  my  public  life,  I  have  and  use  an 
old  judicial  chair,  presented  to  me  in  1860;  and  why  pre- 
sented, and  how  received,  the  following  correspondence  will 
show : 

[The  touching  letters  that  passed  on  this  occasion  have 
been  mislaid.] 

What  I  have  said  about  my  memory  and  self-denial,  and 
the  rapidity  with  which  I  wrote,  may  seem  egotistic ;  it  is, 
nevertheless,  true,  and  fidelity  to  biographic  truth  not  only 
requires,  but  justifies  these  statements,  which  can  be  proved 
by  many  of  my  cotemporaries  who  are  yet  living. 

Accepting  the  Appellate  Judgeship  the  last  time  with  ex- 
treme reluctance,  and  satisfied  that  I  could  not  continue  to 
hold  it  without  too  great  sacrifice,  I  resolved  to  abdicate  as 
soon  as  I  could  befittingly.  Some  of  my  friends  knowing 
this,  and  apprehending  that  a  partial  paralysis  which  crippled 
my  limbs,  but  did  not  essentially  impair  my  mind,  might 


LIFE    OF    GKOKGE    ROP^UTSON. 


precipitate  my  resignation,  protested  against  it.     The  follow- 
ing is  one  of  many  such  remonstrances.* 

Nevertheless,  without  communicating  my  immediate  pur- 
pose to  any  person,  whilst  standing  on  the  platform  on  which 
I  performed  the  ceremony  of  inaugurating  the  Governor,  I 
resolved  to  execute  my  long-deferred  purpose  then  and  there, 
and,  addressing  the  representative  crowd  there  assembled,  I 
announced,  in  that  presence,  my  retirement  from  the  Appel- 
late bench,  and  my  resignation  of  the  office  of  Chief  Justice 
of  Kentucky.  This  novel  and  unexpected  scene  took  the 
crowd  by  surprise,  and  the  occasion  was  hallowed  by  a  pro- 
fusion of  tears  then  shed.  Shortly  afterwards  the  remaining 
members  of  the  Court,  and  members  of  various  bars  at  tin- 
Capital,  met  together  and  adopted  the  following  testimonial 
as  a  tribute  of  their  respect : 

STATE  OF  KENTUCKY,  ) 

COURT  OF  APPEALS, 

6th  September,   1871.      j 

Gov.  T.  E.  Bramlette  presented  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee appointed  to  draft  suitable  resolutions  in  relation  to 
Chief-Justice  Robertson,  which,  on  his  motion,  seconded  by 
W.  R.  Thompson,  Esq.,  after  appropriate  remarks  made  by 
each  of  them,  were  ordered  to  be  spread  on  the  Records  of 
this  Court,  and  a  certified  copy  sent  by  the  Clerk  of  this 
Court  to  Chief-Justice  Robertson;  said  report  reads  as 
follows : 

On  yesterday,  after  administering  to  His  Excellency,  Pres- 
ton H.  Leslie,  the  oath  of  office  as  Governor  of  Kentucky, 
the  venerable  George  Robertson,  in  the  presence  of  a  large 
multitude  of  his  fellow-citizens,  announced  his  final  leave  of 
the  Bench  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  and  his  resignation  of 
his  office  as  its  Chief  Justice. 

It  is  now  meet  and  right  that  the  members  of  the  bench 
and  the  bar  should  inscribe  upon  the  Records  of  this  Court 
*  This  has  been  mislaiil. 


LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  9! 

some  memento  of  their  veneration  for  his  character,  and 
their  high  appreciation  of  his  great  public  service.  Of  him 
it  may  be  said  with  truth,  his  life  has  been  devoted  to  the 
public  service. 

As  he  put  off  his  robes  of  office,  pronounced  his  heartfelt 
benediction  on  his  beloved  countrymen,  we  beheld  the  rep- 
resentative of  a  race  of  intellectual  giants.  It  was  allotted  to 
him,  in  the  providence  of  God,  to  survive  them  all,  with  the 
solitary  exception  of  his  distinguished  and  venerable  com- 
peer, Joseph  R.  Underwood. 

Though  enfeebled  by  age,  and  wasted  by  disease,  his 
mind  seemed  to  be  as  active  and  vigorous  as  ever.  Having 
finished  his  course,  and  won  for  himself  the  plaudit,  "Well 
done,  good  and  faithful  servant,"  he  stepped  down  into  pri- 
vate life  with  the  calm  dignity  of  the  veteran  patriot.  He  is 
followed  to  his  loved  home  with  the  approving  smiles  of  a 
grateful  people. 

The  life  of  this  illustrious  man  has  been  one  of  remarkable 
activity,  and  full  of  incidents  and  results.  In  every  sphere 
of  life  in  which  he  was  called  to  move,  he  made  an  indellible 
impression.  In  his  early  manhood,  and  at  the  very  threshold 
of  life,  he  occupied  the  front  rank  in  the  profession  of  law, 
and  coped  successfully  with  the  greatest  men  of  Kentucky. 
His  great  legal  ability,  and  his  singular  devotion  to  the  in- 
terests committed  to  his  charge,  won  for  him  a  reputation 
co-extensive  with  the  State.  In  fact,  such  was  his  acknowl- 
edged worth,  he  was  soon  called  into  active  political 
life.  At  a  most  eventful  period  in  the  history  of  the  State, 
when  it  became  necessary  to  vindicate  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  the  Constitution,  and  uphold  the  independence  of 
the  judiciary  against  the  encroachments  of  legislative  and 
executive  power,  no  man  wielded  a  more  trenchant  pen,  or 
exerted  a  more  commanding  influence.  His  clear  and  mas- 
terly arguments,  in  the  heated  controversy  of  that  day, 
contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  the  verdict  which  was 
ultimately  rendered  by  a  virtuous  and  enlightened  people. 


92  EORGE    ROBERTSON. 

They  evince  the  same  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  true 
theory  of  our  Government ;  the  same  profound  reverence  for 
the  principles  of  the  Constitution  ;  the  same  earnest  devotion 
to  law  and  order,  and  the  same  enlightened  and  conservative 
spirit  which  have  characterized  all  the  subsequent  efforts  of 
his  public  life. 

Whilst  yet  a  young  man,  in  the  very  heyday  of  his  life,  he 
was  elected  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  At  that 
time  the  Kentucky  delegation,  headed  by  the  illustrious  Clay, 
was  distinguished  alike  for  their  talents  and  force  of  character. 
George  Robertson,  though  young  in  years,  was  the  fit  com- 
peer, and  the  acknowledged  equal  of  them  all.  He  was 
assigned  a  high  position  in  that  body,  and  by  his  unwearied 
attention  to  his  duties  as  a  Representative,  his  laborious  re- 
searches  :''.o  the  archives  of  the  nation,  and  his  broad  and 
extende  1  views  of  public  policy,  with  his  keen  perceptions  of 
the  dangc.s  to  which  our  free  institutions  were  then  exposed, 
and  his  profound  anxiety  to  avert  them,  by  wise  statesman- 
ship and  patriotic  concession,  he  stood  in  the  front  rank  of 
American  statesmen.  He  stands  to-day  the  sole  survivor  of 
that  Congress,  that  emptied  their  heart's  devotion  upon  the 
altar  of  their  country,  that  sectional  strife  might  never  come. 
Venerable  man  !  He  has  lived  to  see  the  day  which  has 
proved  him  a  patriot  and  a  prophet. 

But  it  is  as  a  jurist  he  has  acquired  his  highest  distinction. 
His  mind  was  of  that  cast  which  eminently  fitted  him  for 
legal  analysis.  His  grasp  of  principles,  and  his  quick  and 
intuitive  perception  of  the  reason  of  the  law,  eminently  quali- 
fied him  for  the  high  and  responsible  duties  of  .the  bench. 
In  the  alembric  of  his  massive  brain  legal  principles  were 
coined  and  applied  with  confidence  to  the  wants  of  an  ad- 
vancing civilization.  A  giant  in  intellect,  he  refused,  whenever 
necessary,  to  be  bound  by  the  res  adjudicata  of  the  past. 
With  a  profound  knowledge  of  the  philosophy  of  the  law,  he 
never  hesitated  to  carry  out  its  principles  to  their  legitimate 
results.  He  had  the  mental  intrepidity  of  a  great  judge. 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  93 


It  has  sometimes  been  said  that  he  made  new  laws.  The 
fact  is,  he  looked  upon  law  as  the  science  of  reason.  Not  only 
so,  but  as  a  progressive  science,  which  must  keep  pace  with 
all  other  sciences,  and  lend  its  aid  to  them  all.  He  was  not 
only  versed  in  the  common  law,  but  his  mind  was  well  stored 
with  the  enlightened  jurisprudence  of  Rome  ;  but  at  the  same 
time  he  levied  tribute  on  all  the  achievements  of  modern 
science,  and  made  them  contribute  to  the  elucidation  and  ap 
plication  of  legal  truth.  Hence  it  was  that  the  profession 
were  sometimes  startled  by  his  decisions.  Hence  it  is  that 
we  are  indebted  for  those  masterly  arguments  which  are 
now  recognized  as  valuable  contributions  to  the  jurispru- 
dence of  the  nation. 

Judge  Robertson  has  long  been  recognized  as  one  of  the 
legal  giants  of  the  United  States.  His  opinions  are  accepted 
as  high  authority  in  every  State  of  the  Union. 

He  has  conferred  imperishable  honor  upon  this  tribunal, 
and  the  Bench  and  the  Bar  of  Kentucky  will  ever  respect  his 
virtues,  and  hold  in  grateful  remembrance  his  distinguished 
public  servics. 

THOS.    E.   BRAMLETTE,  Chmn. 

JOHN  RODMAN, 

W    F.   BULLOCK, 

HARVEY  MYERS, 

J.    R.    HALLAM, 

CHAS.   G.    WINTERSMITH, 

JAS.   A.   DAWSON. 
A  Copy — Attest: 

A.   DUVALL,  C.  C.  A. 

On  the  Qth  of  February,  1872,  at  last  satisfied  I  was  en- 
couraged by  the  faith  which  works  by  love,  purifies  the  heart, 
and  overcomes  the  world,  and  that  this,  independently  of 
all  creeds  and  dogmas,  is  ^he  soul  of  pure  Christianity,  I 
joined  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Lexington,  under 
the  pastorate  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dinwiddie ;  and  all  that  I  need 
add  here  on  that  subject  is,  that  ever  since  I  have  enjoyed 
more  peace  and  comfort  than  ever  before. 


94  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

As  this  sketch  of  myself  may  close  here,  I  will  now  add 
the  declaration,  that  having,  on  all  occasions,  striven  to  do 
my  duty  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  regardless  of  my  own 
interest  and  comfort,  and  consequently  at  the  expense  of 
great  and  almost  constant  self-denial,  I  could  this  d;iy  k-.ive 
the  earth  with  a  clear  conscience,  and  without  remorse  for 
any  voluntary  act  or  omission  in  my  whole  life. 

G.   ROBERTSON. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  95, 


CHAPTER  IX. 

LAST    ILLNESS    AND    DEATH. 

When  twilight  comes,  clouds,  that  attend  the  sinking  sun, 
catch  his  last  beams,  and  in  faint  and  fading  colors  show 
them  to  the  world.  Life  has  its  twilight  too, — some  tongue 
or  pen  besides  its  own  must  tell  its  close.  From  their  last 
hours,  prophets  alone,  like  the  great  Hebrew  leader,  who 
saw  his  own  grave  (forever  hid  from  other  eyes)  between 
him  and  the  promised  land,  may  lift  the  vail. 

Though,  in  the  Ian  ju  age  of  his  own  calling,  but  tenant  at 
will,  Judge  Robertson  was  permitted,  for  a  long  term,  to  en- 
joy his  earthly  abode,  and  was  served  with  a  long  notice  to- 
quit.  Nothing  now  was  left  him  to  do  but  to  settle  his  score 
with  this  world,  and  examine  his  title  to  another  home.  The 
foregoing  pages  give  the  result  of  that  enquiry,  in  effect,  as 
follows : 

Reviewing  my  relations  to  mankind  from  the  plane  of 
ethics,  or  according  to  the  standard  of  men,  I  am  satisfied 
with  my  motives  and  conduct.  Reviewing  my  life  from  the 
plane  of  Christianity,  with  regard  to  my  relations  to  God,  I 
entrust  my  case  before  the  unerring  Judge,  to  the  unfailing 
Advocate. 

Dr.  Franklin,  with  characteristic  and  not  unfounded  self- 
complacency,  expressed  his  willingness,  near  the  close  of  his 
long  and  useful  pilgrimage,  to  live  again  just  as  he  had  lived. 
Judge  Robertson  did  not,  perhaps  could  not,  speak  so  de- 
cidedly. Perhaps  his  feeling  was  nearly  expressed  in  these 
lines  of  Phoebe  Carey : 

UI  would  not  make  the  path  I  have  trod 
More  pleasant  or  even  more  straight  cr  wide, 


96  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERT- 

Nor  change  my  course  the  bieadth  ot  a  hair. 
This  \vav  or  that  \\ay.   to  cither  side. 
So,  let  inv  past  stand,   ju-t  as  it  stands. 
And  let  me  n<»\\.  a~-  1   may.  grow  old. 
1  am  what  I  am,  and  my  lite  lor  me 
Is  the  best,  or  it  had  not  been.  I  hold." 

In  some  respects  the  philosopher  and  the  jurist  were  vis  a 
vis.  The  one  extremely  practical,  and  occupied  with  mate- 
rial things,  habitually  turned  his  powerful,  but  near  sighted 
and  microscopic  mind,  from  the  dim  ami  ideal  prospect  of 
hereafter,  to  the  substantial  realities  of  the  present,  ami  tin- 
plain  experience  of  his  own  prosperous  past.  '1  he  other, 
far  more  speculative,  sought,  with  longer  focal  power,  his 
reward  in  futurity.  The  one  seemed  to  regard  this  life  as  a 
consummation  and  fruition ;  the  other  as  a  beginning  and  a 
probation.  The  one  was  willing  for  a  brief  continuance  ot 
his  identity,  and  for  the  stale  enjoyment  of  a  twice  told  tale 
to  escape  the  risk  of  not  being,  or  of  a  state  of  being  wli 
horoscope  he  could  not  cast.  The  other  recoiled  from  an 
existence  that  is  only  long  enough,  at  best,  t«>  beget  desires 
which  can  never  bs  satisfied,  and  attachments  doomed  to  be 
torn  up  by  the  roots  and  painfully  educate  and  discipline 
faculties  never  to  be  used,  and  then  end  in  nothingness.  To 
him,  life  was  a  worthless  boon — if  this  be  all  of  lift ,  if  not 
all,  and  the  trial  has  been  successful,  or  if  the  result  of  an- 
other experiment  must  be  the  same,  why  \\ish  to  roll  a 
rebounding  stone,  by  renewing  a  youth  of  toil,  a  manhood 
chequered  with  bereavements — ending  in  an  old  age  which 
survived  nearly  every  object  of  affection  ? 

In  estimating  the  character  of  a  man  it  would  be  a  capital 
omission  to  overlook  a  quality  which  he  most  desired  to  pos 
sess,  which  he  most  desired  to  be  considered  to  j  and 

which  above  all  others  he  claimed  to  possess.  Beyond  ques- 
tion, he  of  whom  we  inadequately  write,  wished  above  all 
things  else  to  be,  and  to  be  dejmed  by  his  fellou-eiti/.ens, 
morally  upright,  in  the  most  perfect  sense  in  which  those 
words  can  be  applied  to  human  frailty.  The  majority  of 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  97 

mankind,  must  in  most  cases,  judge  of  character  as  the  law 
does,  upon  evidence  of  reputation,  or  what  a  majority  of  his 
acquaintances  say  of  the  person  on  trial.  but  the  real  and 
underlying  fact  in  every  case  is  his  conduct.  By  their  fruits 
ye  shall  know  them,  is  a  proposition  which  has  received  the 
assent  of  all  time.  The  rule  may  be  plain — its  application  is 
often  difficult,  because  most  of  the  individuals  of  the  human 
flora  are,  like  Christmas  trees,  laden  with  fruits  they  never 
produced. 

Praise  and  censure  are  so  freely  bestowed  upon  man  for 
acts  that  were  never  done,  or  were  done  by  others ;  so,  often 
has  life-long  hypocrisy  been  stripped  of  its  cowl,  or  its  har- 
lequin garb  of  levity;  selfishness  won  the  palm  of  prudence; 
stinginess  borne  off  the  prize  of  pious  self-dental;  apathy 
worn  the  crown  of  moral  strength ;  and  wealth  and  patron- 
age hid  a  multitude  of  sins.  So  many  indeterminate  figures 
— every-day  Crom wells  and  Robespieres — double  faced  Ja- 
nuses — half  saint,  half  devil  Dick  Turpins — robbers  to-day, 
almoners  to-morrow — throng  the  thoroughfares,  that  the 
marks  of  rectitude  are  also  marks  of  accomplished  villainy. 
In  vain  may  law  and  what  was  once  good  reason  declare  that 
every  man  is  innocent  till  proved  guilty,  and  that  scoundrels 
grow  and  are  not  Minerva-like,  born  complete.  The  out- 
raged common  sense  and  experience  of  the  people  doubt  or 
reject  presumptions,  faithless,  as  mercenary  troops,  which 
serve  with  equal  efficiency  on  both  sides,  and  so  confound 
evidence  that  the  wheat  of  society  is  fated  not  only  to  stand 
beside,  but  also  frequently  to  be  mistaken  for  tares — until 
the  harvest. 

Still,  to  be  not  only  negatively  blameless,  but  to  maintain 
persistently  to  the  end  every  appearance  of  activity,  per- 
forming all  social  obligations,  and  to  corroborate  these 
indications  by  an  averment  of  motives,  having  almost  the 
sanctions  of  a  dying  declaration,  if  not  proof,  must  be 
deemed  the  best  substitute  for  proof  that  can  be  found. 

Of  all  the  aspects  of  virtue,  the  appearance  of  mere  ab- 
6 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


stinence  from  evil  is  feeblest.  Who  can  tell  where  omission 
ends  and  commission  begins  ?  Or  whether  the  temptation  of 
A  is  not  the  aversion  of  B?  Or  whether  refraining  from  one 
vice  may  not  be  addiction  to  the  opposite  vice,  just  as  the 
farthest  from  Charybdis  may  be  nearest  to  Scyll.i.  When 
the  torpid  snake  is  rewarded  for  not  striking  in  winter,  then 
also  may  the  phlegmatic  man,  who,  like  Eve,  is  "fair  by 
defect,"  be  canonized  for  his  exemption  from  the  excesses 
of  ardent  and  impulsive  natures. 

Judge  Robertson  believed  —  as  man  was  not  designed  to 
belong  to  "the  painted  populace,  who  lead  ambrosial  lives" — 
the  butterflies  —  as  the  bones  and  thews  of  his  body  and 
mind  declare,  "In  the  sweat  of  thy  brow  shah  thou  eat 
bread" — that  to  do  his  duty,  he  must  work.  And  that  he  who 
hid  his  talent  of  money,  of  brains,  or  of  muscle,  "in  a  napkin,' 
was  himself  that  napkin,  with  all  the  pliancy,  little  worth  and 
fitness  for  low  uses  of  a  rag.  His  was  not  a  dead  faith. 

Thoughtful,  earnest,  self-reliant,  standing  upon  his  own 
feet ;  never  borne  upon  the  shoulders  of  another,  not  for  a 
moment;  a  barnacle  dependent  for  headway  on  the  speed  of 
the  craft,  to  whose  bottom  he  stuck;  nor  a  misseltoe  or  a 
fungus,  sucking  unquited  sustenance  from  his  country  or 
friends ;  in  early  youth  ceasing  to  be  a  weight,  he  became, 
and  to  the  last  continued  to  be,  a  power  to  lift  and  sustain 
others.  For  all  they  did  for  him,  he  paid  his  fellow-man 
heaped  rmasure,  running  over,  and  believed  that  the  primal 
curse  had  been  his  greatest  blessing. 

In  the  domestic  circle  he  was  worthy  of  unbounded  vene- 
ration and  love.  As  a  citixen,  he  had  been  public-spirited, 
obedient  to  the  laws,  temperate,  chaste,  truthful  in  all 
things,  in  all  things  decorous  and  just. 

Without  question  or  complaint,  he  accepted  several  not 
very  eminent,  nor  at  all  lucrative,  and  still  responsible 
and  laborious  offices,  that  had  been  assigned  him,  and  reso- 
lutely and  satisfactorily  discharged  their  duties.  He  never 
filled  a  place  of  which  he  was  unworthy,  or  left  one  without 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  99 

having  added  as  much  honor  and  advantage  to  it  as  he 
gained  from  it.  Though  one  of  the  youngest  and  most  in- 
experienced, he  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  faithful,  and 
was  fast  becoming  one  of  the  most  distinguished  members  of 
Congress. 

In  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky,  at  its  most  brilliant  period, 
by  his  unflinching  boldness,  pertinacity,  learning,  and  elo- 
quence, he  did  the  State  as  much  service  as  any  other  man 
has  ever  done  in  that  body.  Never  idle,  and  amassing  large 
stores  of  general  information,  he  had  been  widely  known  and 
useful  as  a  writer  and  speaker  on  political  and  literary  and 
historical  topics.  He  had  patiently,  and  not  unprofitably, 
instructed  many  classes  and  individuals  in  the  elements  of 
law. 

When  a  sense  of  duty  demanded,  he  had  met  men  of  all 
grades  in  council  and  in  debate.  And  among  the  names  that 
have  shed  the  lustre  of  unquestionable  integrity,  varied  and 
accurate  attainments,  and  profound  reasoning  upon  the  bench 
of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  his  had  been  conspicuously  enrolled. 

If  the  State  loved  to  honor  other  of  its  citizens  more,  who 
of  them  all  had  been  more  faithful  and  useful  to  the  State  ? 
And  if  he  did  not  render  to  his  country  and  his  race  more 
conspicuous  services,  for  which  he  proved  his  abundant 
capacity,  it  was  because  his  country  denied  him  the  op- 
portunity. 

What  a  man,  who  has  been  equal  to  every  demand,  moral, 
physical,  or  intellectual,  that  has  been  made  upon  him,  and 
has  stood  all  the  tests,  and  these  neither  few  nor  light,  to 
which  he  has  been  subjected,  might  have  accomplished, 
under  other  and  more  favorable  conditions,  beomes,  after 
his  goodness  and  strength  are  buried  in  the  grave,  a  matter 
of  idle  conjecture,  or  of  vain  regret. 

Some  weeks  before  the  term  of  the  Court  of  Appeals 
which  he  last  attended,  one  of  his  legs  became  partially 
insensible.  Domestic  cares  and  business  complications  con- 
spired to  disturb  his  mind  and  impair  his  health.  His 


IOO  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

children  importuned  him  to  resign  his  seat,  and  devote  his 
remaining  days,  which,  in  the  course  of  nature,  could  be  but 
few,  to  well-earned  relaxation.  He  did  not  need  the  emolu- 
ments of  his  office,  and  had  obtained  all  the  honors  it  could 
confer.  But  employment,  which  had  been  the  master  of  his 
youth  and  middle  age,  had  become  the  friend  of  his  old  age. 
An  active  mind  may  possibly  find  rest  in  change  of  occupa- 
tion, but  not  in  indolence.  Habit,  energy,  and  a  strong 
sense  of  duty,  yield  only  to  disability. 

Men  who. desire  to  be  contentedly  idle,  or  to  change  their 
pursuits  when  they  shall  have  grown  old,  must  begin  to  be 
idle  or  to  change  while  they  are  still   young.      The  vulgar, 
but  true  adage,    "an   old  horse  cannot    learn   new    tricks," 
is    mainly    true,    because  an  old    horse  cannot    forsake  old 
tricks.     The  worn-out  calvary  horses  of  the  peninsular  war 
never  forgot  their  training.      Discharged  from   service,  and 
pastured   at    the    public    expense,   they  formed  into  line  of 
battle  at  the  sound  of  thunder  or  the  call   of   the    bugle. 
The    instance    of    the    blind    old     Duke,     at    Crecy,    who, 
stirred    by    the    well-known    roar    of   battle  and   the    "stern 
joy    that    warriors   feel,"    had    himself  borne,   between    two 
cavaliers,    into    the    thickest    of    the    fight,    is   remarkable, 
not     because     he     was     old,     but    because    he    was    blind. 
History,    recognizing    the    force    of    habit,    especially  when 
united    with    the    love    of    power,     has     never     ceased     to 
wonder  that  Diocletian  could  betake  himself  to  architecture 
and   the  culture  of  cabbages,  and  Charles  the  V.  to  a  mon- 
astery, and  neither  of  these  emperors  was  far  advanced  in  age, 
and  both  were  broken  down  by  fatigue  and  disease.      Avoca- 
tions or  diversions  from  the  regular  calling,  late  in  life,  have 
generally  been  unblessed.     Therefore,,  sound  reason,  as  well 
as  inclination,  generally  persuade  the  lawyer  to  remain  at  the 
bar,  the  preacher  in  the  pulpit,  the  merchant  at  his  desk, 
long  as  they  can  respectively  discharge  the  duties  of  their 
vocations.     But  no  man  should  hold  or  attempt  to  administer 
a  public  or  private  trust  after   he  has  become  disqualified  to 
do  so. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  IOI 

Judge  Robertson,  though  an  octogenarian,  was  not  a 
"lean  and  slippered"  one,  "sans  everything;"  and  if  he 
could  not  say  with  the  Hebrew  law-giver,  "That  his  eye 
was  not  dim,  nor  his  natural  force  abated,"  still  he  was  hale 
and  hearty,  and  seemed  to  retain  the  mental  and  bodily 
stamina  of  his  best  days.  No  man  ever  read  with  keener  relish 
than  he,  the  famous  interview  in  which  Gil  Bias,  in  obedi- 
ence to  instructions,  hints  to  the  decrepid  Archbishop  of 
Grenada,  that  there  is  a  slight  falling  off  in  the  vigor  of  his 
homilies ;  and  as  no  man  had  a  nicer  sense  of  personal 
honor  and  official  integrity,  so  no  man  would  have  been  fur- 
ther from  replying  to  a  similar  intimation  from  a  competent 
person,  in  a  right  spirit,  as  the  ancient  Primate  did,  with  the 
words,  "  I  wish  you  all  manner  of  prosperity,  with  a  little 
more  taste." 

He  frequently  expressed  his  intention  to  retire,  on  such  oc- 
casions, and  at  other  times  he  received  many  spoken  and 
written  assurances,  from  members  of  the  bar,  in  whose  judg- 
ment and  candor  he  trusted,  of  their  unabated  confidence  in 
his  ability,  and  their  earnest  desire  that  he  should  not  abdi- 
cate. If  the  question  had  been  captiously  asked,  "Why 
superfluous  lags  the  veteran  on  the  stage?"  he  might  have 
replied,  first,  that  the  people,  unsolicited,  and  knowing  his 
age,  had  put  him  there  ;  and  then,  after  the  manner  of  Sc- 
phocles,  who,  when  his  children,  in  order  to  obtain  his 
estate,  brought  their  father  before  the  court  on  a  charge  of 
being  in  his  dotage  and  incapable  of  managing  his  affairs, 
held  forth,  in  overwhelming  refutation  of  the  charge,  the 
Oedipus  Coloneus,  which  he  had  just  written,  the  veteran 
Judge  might  have  pointed  to  his  opinions  on  legal  tender, 
the  effect  of  war  upon  contracts,  the  liability  of  employers  for 
injuries  to  their  agents,  resulting  from  the  negligence  of  other 
agents,  and  many  others  of  his  later  opinions. 

His  house  was  almost  desolate.  As  all  must  do  who  live 
to  fourscore  years,  he  had  survived  the  companions  of  his 
youth,  and  most  of  the  friends  of  his  maturer  years.  Be- 


102  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

sides  himself,  one  sister  alone  was  left  of  all  his  father's 
numerous  family.  He  had  seen  his  wife  and  more  than  half 
his  children  laid  in  their  graves.  His  other  children  and 
grand  children  had  families  of  their  own  Although  the  eyes 
that  used  to  "mark  his  coming,  and  look  brighter  when  he 
came,"  were  all  gone;  although  he  missed  the  tidy  and  mat- 
ronly form  from  the  accustomed  seat  beside  the  hearth,  and 
tokens  of  the  graceful  and  gracious  boy  who  had  been  the 
light  of  that  abode,  were  scattered  all  around,  he  could  not 
be  persuaded  to  abandon  his  home,  and  could  not  occupy  it 
without  being  saddened  by  recollections  which  every  object 
in  it  awakened. 

Disregarding  the  gentle  monitions  of  incipient  disease,  he 
resumed  the  duties  of  his  office.  His  parting  words  on  leav- 
ing home  intimated  that  the  time  and  occasion  of  his  return 
were  doubtful.  He  continued  to  discharge  his  official  duties 
until  the  morning  of  February  1st,  iS/i,  when,  while  writing 
an  opinion,  his  sight  was  affected  with  a  dimness  which 
glasses  could  not  relieve,  and  the  lines  on  the  paper  became 
oblique  and  irregular,  though  still  legible.  His  left  leg  and 
arm  soon  ceased  to  obey  his  will,  and  he  continued  helpless, 
with  gradually  increasing  loss  of  vision,  resulting  for  more 
than  a  year  before  his  death,  in  total  blindness. 

The  paralytic  attack  was  complicated  with  pneumonia,  and 
for  several  weeks  neither  he  nor  his  friends  thought  he  could 
live  more  than  a  few  days.  The  sympathy  and  attention 
which  his  situation  at  this  time  awakened  were  wide-spread 
and  constant.  Especially  did  he  receive  the  strongest 
evidences  of  attachment  from  his  former  pupils  and  other 
members  of  the  bar  throughout  the  State.* 

*  The  following  note  from  a  distinguished  la\vver.  who  had  been  his  pu- 
pil, is  a  specimen  of  many   of  a  similar  kind,  which   cheered   him  while 
death  pressed  his  slow  but  certain  siege: 

MY  DEAR  JUDGE  : 

*  *  *  *     I  do  not  intend  to  believe  that  I  am  to  lose  my  noble  friend, 
and  the  State  its  first  citizen,  until  the  fact  shall  have  existed.      You  do  not 
desire  from  me  words  of  eulogy,  and  you   have  too  much  philosophy  to 
need  words  of  condolence.      It  was  a  white  day  for  Kentucky  when   vou 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  IO3 

Some  of  his  old  acquaintances  came  long  distances,  with 
no  other  purpose  than  to  have  another  and  last  interview 
with  their  venerable  friend.  Of  these  some,  and  among 
them,  Governor  Bramlette,  were  soon  to  be  re-united  with 
"him  in  another  world. 

The  Legislature  expressed  their  profound  sense  of  his 
great  services  to  the  State,  and  caused  his  portrait  to  be 
placed  in  the  Capitol. 

Henceforth  he  needed  unremitting  attention,  and  was  anx- 
ious lest  he  should  give  trouble  to  his  attendants.  In  addi- 
.tion  to  bodily  suffering,  which  was  often  acute,  his  affairs 
had  become  involved,  and  he  was  compelled  to  know  that  his 
•  descendants  would  enjoy  but  little  of  the  earnings  of  his  long 
and  self-denying  labors.  Still,  he  was  generally  cheerful, 
.sometimes  facetious,  and  always  uncomplaining.  He  seemed 
to  be  at  peace  with  God  and  man. 

Any  notice  of  his  character  which  omits  its  religious 
-element  would  be  imperfect.  Looking  at  his  religious  expe- 
rience from  a  rational  standpoint,  he  had  encountered  all  the 
•difficulties  which  a  man  of  resolute  will,  great  deductive 
power,  and  strong  emotions,  who  has  been  compelled,  at  the 
bar,  to  deny  or  affirm,  according  to  his  position,  either  side 
of  every  proposition,  and  who  has  been  educated  in  the 
school  of  adversity,  to  be  fearless  and  self-reliant,  may  be  ex- 
pected to  combat  before  he  rests  on  the  simple  gospel,  which 
is  to  the  Jew  a  stumbling  block,  to  the  Greek  foolishness. 

Christianity  was  a  subject  of  too  great  apparent  import- 
ance to  be  overlooked  or  underrated  by  one  of  his  inquiring 
mind  and  aspirations  after  a  purer,  higher  and  more  abiding 
destiny  than  this  way  station  —  mortality.  He  saw,  at  a 

again  assumed  the  bench;  it  will  be  a  black  when  you  leave  it.  If  you 
still  live  to  continue  to  serve  the  State,  that  you  have  honored  more  than 
it  has  honored  you,  so  much  the  better;  but  if  there  be  another  fate,  the 
past  at  least  is  secure.  I  know,  my  dear  venerable  friend  and  preceptor, 
that  you  will  not  censure  me,  even  if  I  intrude  into  the  sick  room.  My 
object  in  now  writing  is  to  ask  you  to  direct  one  of  your  children  or  grand 
children  to  write  to  me  how  you  are,  and  whether  I  can  serve  you  in  any 
way,  either  here  or  elsewhere. 


IO4  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

glance,  that  its  opponents  must  concede  that  it  \vas  the 
most  remarkable  fact  in  the  roll  of  ages ;  the  source  of  the 
mightiest  conflicts  in  the  past,  and  of  the  most  unselfish  and 
untiring  activities  of  the  present.  A  cause  for  which  men 
and  women  of  every  grade,  social  and  intellectual,  had  fo;j 
s?.ken  all  else,  and  poured  out  their  blood  with  triumphant 
joy;  a  centre  around  which  the  brightest  intellects  of 
eighteen  centuries  had  revolved  —  he  could  not  close  his 
eyes  to  the  fact  that  it  claimed  to  be  a  standing  miracle, 
fully  attested  by  its  own  history  and  progress;  and  whether 
considered  as  a  cause  or  an  effect,  to  have  produced  the 
largest  growth  from  the  smallest  beginning,  and  the  va 
most  beneficent,  and  permanent  results,  by  apparently  inad- 
equate, and  even  insignificant  means,  that  have  ever  been 
known.  Especially  was  he  attracted  by  its  claim  to  be  the 
safe  guardian  of  the  present,  with  all  its  precious  interests 
and  the  only  prophet  of  eternity,  bringing  life  and  immor- 
tality to  light.  He  was  drawn  to  it  still  more  for  the  reason 
that  it  had  been  the  guide  and  consolation  through  life,  and  the 
support  in  death,  of  many  of  those  whom  hi-  had  m<»t  loved 
and  revered.  And  he  felt  that  the  possibility  that  God  had 
manifested  himself  in  the  flesh,  made  it  his  duty,  as  well  as 
his  interest,  to  inquire  if  this  were  true.  This  feeling  was  kept 
alive  and  fostered,  by  the  question  which  he  was  compelled 
to  ask  again  and  again,  when  the  objects  of  his  tenderest 
affections  were  taken  from  him,  Shall  we  meet  again  ?  Or, 
with  the  greatest  of  all  thinkers  unblest  by  revelation,  the 
Stagyrite  ("who  asked  the  dreadful  question  of  the  hills, — 

That  look  etcrn;il.  of  t lie  flowing  streams 
That  lucid  flow  forever,  of  the  stars 
And  whose  fields  of  a/.ure  his  rai-ed 
Spirit  had  stood  in  glory — 

and  found  that  all  were  mute),  must  I  adopt  the  sad  conclu- 
sion— If  any  part  of  the  soul  be  immortal,  it  is  the  impersonal 
part?" 

Rejecting  the  conclusiveness  of  authority  in  religion,  as  in 
most  things  else,   and  considering  evidence  an  indispensable 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


means  of  certitude,  and  despising  skepticism,  which  is  the 
result  of  ignorance  where  knowledge  is  attainable,  he  devoted 
close  and  patient  attention  to  the  evidence  of  natural  and 
revealed  religion.  Knowing  that  no  mind,  and  especially 
one  enthralled  by  the  most  exacting  of  task-masters — the 
municipal  laws — could  collect  and  weigh  all  the  evidence  re- 
lating to  any  fundamental  question  of  religion  or  philosophy, 
he  would  concentrate  all  his  forces  upon  single  decisive  facts. 
Of  the  crucifixion  and  resurrection,  and  the  particulars  in 
regard  to  the  character  and  conversion  of  Saul  of  Tarsus, 
were  examined  by  him  with  minute  and  searching  thorough- 
ness, because  he  knew  that  the  correct  decision  of  an  issue 
on  either  of  these  stupendous  facts,  like  a  judgment  at  law, 
on  a  traverse  to  a  special  plea  to  the  merits,  would  be 
conclusive,  not  only  as  to  the  particular  question,  but  as 
to  the  whole  case.  Many  questions  he  asked  to  which  he 
received  no  answer,  other  than  that  insoluble  difficulties  were 
not  peculiar  to  religion,  but  were  common  to  every  subject 
of  human  inquiry. 

He  also  devoted  much  time  and  thought  to  the  investiga- 
tion of  facts  and  statements  in  relation  to  the  deluge.  In 
doing  this  he  had  to  consider  whether  the  earth's  surface  ex- 
hibited any  vestiges  of  the  flood ;  whether  there  were  any 
traditions  in  relation  to  it ;  whether  the  ark  in  size  and  con- 
struction was  adapted  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
intended ;  what  was  the  depth  of  the  inundation,  and  whether 
caused  by  a  subsidence  of  land  as  well  as  by  rain ;  and 
whether  the  overflow  was  partial  or  universal.  His  con- 
versations on  these  subjects  showed  large  research,  long 
rumination,  and  were  replete  with  instruction. 

From  his  daily  conversations  on  religious  topics  it  was 
clear  that,  besides  many  side  investigations  and  peculiar  con- 
clusions, the  main  current  of  his  thoughts  pursued  the  worn 
channel  which  is  open  to  all  explorers. 

He  found,  historically,  that  man,  left  to  the  discipline  of 
reason,  unaided  by  revelation  or  physical  science,  had  col- 


IO6  LIFE   OF   GEOKGE    ROP^RTSON. 


lected  into  a  moral  code  the  rays  of  that  light  which  lighteth 
every  man  \vho  cometh  into  the  world,  and  that  in  tlu-  ex- 
ploration of  visible  things  other  systems  of  relations  had  been 
eliminated,  and  not  being  able  to  perceive  why  necessary 
relations,  resulting  from  the  nature  of  things,  did  not  imply 
a  personal,  intelligent,  and  superior  power  as  clearly  as  such 
a  power  was  implied  by  the  provisions  of  a  book  of  statutes, 
he  thought  it  probable  that  such  a  law-giver  would  make  a 
clearer  manifestation  of  his  will  than  can  be  seen  in  unwrit- 
ten laws.  And  turning  to  the  Scriptures,  which  have  been 
accepted  by  the  Christian  Church  as  the  word  of  God,  he 
found  two  dispensations,  the  one,  undoubtedly  of  great  an- 
tiquity, wonderfully  preparatory  for,  and  confirmatory  of, 
the  other,  and  he  believed  that  the  discipline  of  the  unwritten 
moral  law,  and  of  the  written  moral  and  ceremonial  laws  dis- 
closed the  necessity  of  a  mediator  and  prepared  the  way  for 
his  reception. 

He  learned  all  that  he  could  from  books  and  from  pers-ms 
of  exemplary  piety  on  the  subject  of  experimental  religion. 
And  it  is  probable  that  his  conduct  and  his  experience 
were  those  of  a  regenerate  man  for  more  than  forty  years 
preceding  his  death ;  but  it  was  not  until  after  he  had  been 
ill  a  year  or  more  that  he  joined  the  church.  This  was 
not  the  result  of  any  sudden  impulse,  apprehension,  or 
moral  change.  He  considered  the  transforming  effects  of 
faith  the  strongest  evidence  both  of  the  truth  of  revelation 
and  of  conversion,  and  he  had  been  awaiting  for  years  a  clear 
manifestation  of  the  operation  of  this  miracle  upon  his  own 
nature,  the  unclouded  peace,  the  full  tide  of  purifying  love, 
which  he  desired  to  feel,  never  came  He  learned  that  he 
must  look  out  of  himself,  and  that  religious  experience  is  itself 
probationary.  One  of  his  favorite  books  was  the  writings  of 
Bishop  Butler.  Two  books  which  he  read  most  frequently 
in  his  latter  years,  were  Buchanan  on  modern  infidelity  and 
Coleridge's  aids  to  reflection. 

During  his  long  decline  of  more  than  three  years,    he  oc- 


LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  IQ/ 

cupied,  most  of  the  time,  a  chair  in  which  he  could  either 
recline  or  be  supported  in  an  erect  position.  Occasionally, 
for  the  first  year,  he  rode  out  in  his  carriage.  Afterwards, 
his  only  exercise  consisted  in  daily  airings  about  his  house, 
or  about  the  grounds  surrounding  it,  in  a  wheeled  chair. 
Some  months  before  his  death  this  was^  abandoned.  His 
speech  was  sometimes  inarticulate — he  swallowed  his  food 
with  difficulty.  His  physicians  said  that  paralysis  was  invad- 
ing his  throat  and  stomach ;  and  he  was  subject  to  frequent 
violent  and  dangerous  attacks,  resulting  from  the  disorder  of 
his  digestive  functions.  His  reasoning  faculty  seemed  to  be 
as  vigorous  as  ever,  when  aroused,  but  there  was  a  moment- 
ary confusion  in  its  first  efforts.  His  recollection  of  facts  and 
principles,  of  the  names  of  persons  and  titles  of  cases,  with 
which  he  had  been  familiar  years  before,  seemed  unimpaired. 
His  recollection  of  recent  events  was  imperfect.  His  emo- 
tions were  easily  excited.  He  slumbered  during  part  of 
every  day,  how  long  or  frequently,  could  not  be  told,  be- 
cause often,  when  supposed  to  be  asleep,  he  was  engaged  in 
meditation  or  listening  to  conversation. 

A  once  popular  writer  remarks:  That  nature,  attentive  to 
the  preservation  of  mankind,  increases  our  wishes  to  live, 
while  she  lessens  our  enjoyments,  and  as  she  robs  the  senses 
of  every  pleasure,  equips  imagination  in  the  spoil.  This  was 
not  wholly  true  of  Judge  Robertson.  Still,  without  mani- 
festing any  fear  of  death,  or  any  increased  wish  to  live,  he 
did  not  wish  to  die.  A  few  weeks  before  his  death,  he  had 
remained  silent  for  a  long  time,  with  open  and  upturned  eyqs, 
an  attendant  (his  neice)  asked  him  what  was  the  subject  of 
his  thoughts,  he  replied,  "  My  exit  from  this  world."  In 
response  to  her  question,  whether  he  desired  to  depart,  he 
said,  "I  do  not."  Still,  when  he  spoke  of  dying,  which 
was  seldom,  it  was  with  perfect  composure,  and  he  selected 
two  of  his  favorite  hymns  to  be  sung  at  his  funeral.  In  the 
latter  months  of  his  life,  he  was  frequently  reminded  of  mor- 
tality by  the  decease  of  friends,  among  others,  a  servant,  who 


IOS  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

had  been  in  his  family  for  more  than  fifty  years,  met  with  an 
accident,  which  caused  her  death,  and  soon  after,  his  daugh- 
ter, Mrs.  Letcher,  a  lady  of  beautiful  person  and  winning 
manners,  and  endowed  with  a  vigorous  and  cultivated  under- 
standing, was  summoned  from  the  earth.  A  few  days  before 
his  departure,  he  sa.id  that  in  a  dream  or  vision  he  saw  all  the 
departed  members  of  his  family,  his  mother,  wife,  and  chil- 
dren, more  radiant  and  vigorous  than  when  in  the  flesh,  but 
in  other  respects  exactly  as  he  had  known  them.  During 
his  last  day  (May  i6th,  1874),  he  could  only  speak  a  few 
words.  His  vital  organs,  invigorated  by  his  prudent  habits, 
had  often  before  rallied  and  now  refused  to  surrender  without 
a  struggle.  But  his  last  hour  was  the  calm  close  of  a  serene 
life.  With  that  regard  for  places,  haFlowed  by  associations, 
which  he  never  ceased  to  feel,  he  had  wished  to  die  at  the 
spot  where  his  wife  and  youngest  son  had  breathed  their  last. 
And,  reclining  in  his  chair,  near  that  sacred  spot,  with  his 
children  and  grandchildren  around  him,  his  pulse  and  breath- 
ing slowly  sunk.  For  one  instant  he  opened  his  sight!: 
but  now  beaming,  eyes,  and  turned  from  side  to  side  his  face, 
lighted  with  an  expression  of  surpassing  brightness.  Were 
the  beloved  forms  that  he  had  seen  in  the  vision  now  wel- 
coming him  into  their  midst?  As  the  clock  struck  ten,  his 
usual  bed  time,  he  solved  or  ceased  to  heed  the  engrossing 
question  of  his  life.  The  glorious  mind,  the  tried  and  faith- 
ful heart  were  nothing  or  immortal. 

The  following  [from  the  Lexington  Daily  Press  accurately 
tells  the  closing  scene : 

DEATH  OF   THE   DISTINGUISHED  JURIST   LAST 

NIGHT. 

Hon.  GEORGE  ROBERTSON  died  at  his  residence,  on  High 
street,  corner  of  Mill,  last  night,  at  10  o'clock.  Members 
of  his  family  and  kind  friends,  who  have  faithfully  attended 
him  during  his  long  and  painful  illness,  were  with  him  at  the 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  IOQ 

closing  hour  of  life,   and  ministered  to  his  suffering  in  every 
way  that  warm  affection  could  suggest. 

In  the  winter  of  1871  the  venerable  jurist  was  stricken 
with  paralysis.  The  lingering  disease,  with  varying  phases, 
weighed  down  the  strong  frame,  and  keeping  him  an  invalid, 
did  its  work  slowly  but  so  surely,  that  those  who  knew  and 
loved  him  so  well  were  prepared  for  the  sad  event  which  has 
lost  the  nation  a  master  mind. 

His  last  relapse  occurred  on  Monday,  when  he  was 
attacked  with  something  like  cramp  colic.  Every  day  suc- 
ceeding he  suffered  from  chills,  and  on  yesterday  morning 
about  4  o'clock,  began  to  yield  to  the  dread  summons. 
During  the  forenoon  he  was  visited  by  Rev.  Mr.  Dinwiddie, 
who  held  religious  services  with  him.  In  conversation  with 
Mr.  Dinwiddie,  he  expressed  himself  as  perfectly  at  peace, 
and  fully  prepared  to  die.  During  the  entire  day  the  work 
of  dissolution  continued.  The  sufferer  endured  at  times  in- 
tense and  almost  unbearable  agony  of  body,  such  was  the 
struggle  between  giant  strength  and  the  King  of  Terrors. 
By  the  advice  of  his  physicians  opiates  were  administered, 
but  they  served  to  nttle  purpose. 

At  nine  o'clock  he  asked  for  water.  It  was  given  4iim  in 
a  spoon,  and  he  asked  for  the  glass.  Soon  after  drinking  of 
it  he  began  to  sink,  and  did  not  speak  again.  About  fifteen 
minutes  after  he  had  taken  water,  Mrs.  Judge  Alexander 
Robertson  went  to  his  side  and  asked  him  if  he  recognized 
her.  His  answer  was  a  pressure  of  the  hand.  Three  times 
was  the  question  repeated,  but  the  power  of  speech  was  gone, 
and  only  that  gentle  clasp  told  the  sorrowing  ones  that  he 
was  yet  conscious.  Slowly  the  hand  of  death  rested  upon 
him,  and  just  as  the  clock  sounded  the  hour  of  ten,  the  heart 
ceased  its  throbbing,  and  the  great  brain  was  at  rest. 

Two  years  ago  Judge  Robertson,  with  several  members  of 
his  family,  united  themselves  with  the  Church.  From  that 
to  the  end  of  his  life  he  was  an  earnest,  devoted  follower  of 
the  Meek  and  Lowly  One.  For  nearly  two  years  he  was 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


almost  totally  blind,  but  so  desirous  was  lie  to  know  "the 
ways  of  pleasantness  and  the  paths  of  peace,"  he  would  have 
his  friends  to  sing  and  pray  and  read  from  God's  Holy  Word 
to  him,  and  from  its  teachings  he  seemed  to  derive  consola- 
tion. The  great  mind  which  had  so  long  been  accustomed 
to  view  all  questions  from  a  purely  philosophical  standpoint, 
accepted  the  simple  laws  of  Holy  Writ,  even  as  a  little  child 
accepts  the  parent  teachings.  The  man  who,  for  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  was  the  expounder  of  human  law,  was 
himself  an  humble  listener  to  the  lessons  of  the  Judge  of  the 
Universe. 

In  death,  as  in  life,  the  face  of  Judge  Robertson  bore  the 
impress  of  that  intellect  which  placed  him  in  the  ranks  with 
those  great  minds,  the  movers  of  the  nation  in  the  years  gone 
by.  The  countenance,  when  viewed  by  the  writer  last  night, 
wore  a  calm  and  peaceful  expression.  The  massive  forehead, 
broad  and  smooth,  betrayed  no  sign  of  the  suffering  through 
which  the  body  had  passed.  From  the  face  alone  could 
be  detected  aught  of  the  pain  endured.  The  body  was  rest- 
ing upon  the  extension  chair,  which  he  had  occupied  during 
his  illness,  and  in  which  he  was  resting  when  he  died. 

In  the  room,  at  the  time  we  visited  it,  was  a  little  grand- 
daughter quietly  sleeping.  She  was  not  aware  that  the  Death 
Angel  had  swept  over  her  family  and  called  a  loved  and  re- 
vered one,  and  those  who  were  there  did  not  awaken  her. 

No  definite  arrangements  have  yet  been  made  for  the  fu- 
neral, nor  will  any  be  made  until  the  arrival  of  all  the  family 
and  friends.  The  Judge  had  but  three  children  living.  Of 
these,  two,  Judge  Alexander  Robertson  and  Mrs.  Bell,  were 
with  him  at  the  time  of  his  death.  Mrs.  Buford  is  expected 
to  arrive  this  morning. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  Ill 


CHAPTER  X. 

FUNERAL     SERVICES. 

The  death  of  JUDGE  ROBERTSON,  though  not  unexpected, 
created  a  feeling  of  sorrow  throughout  the  country.  The 
press  of  his  own  and  of  other  States  paid  heartfelft,  full  and 
lofty  tributes  to  his  memory,  and  many  Bars  passed  resolu- 
tions expressive  of  their  profound  respect  for  the  character 
of  the  departed  jurist.  In  the  gth  volume  of  Bush's  Reports 
may  be  found  a  transcript  of  the  record  of  the  proceedings 
upon  the  occasion  of  his  death,  of  the  Court  of  which  he  was 
so  long  a  member,  containing  a  just  and  beautiful  resume  of 
his  life  and  character,  by  Judge  Hardin,  and  immediately 
following  is  the  record  of  the  same  sad  offices  to  the  memory 
of  that  lamented  Judge.  "They  were  pleasant  in  their  lives 
and  in  their  death  they  were  not  divided." 

A  few  of  these  notices  of  the  press,    found  at  the  end  of 
this  volume,  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  specimen  of  them  all. 


THE  FUNERAL  SERVICES. 

[From  the  Lexington  Press  ] 

The  scene  was  impressive  in  the  extreme.  Around  the 
door  groups  of  men,  mostly  men  of  that  profession  which  the 
deceased  had  so  highly  adorned,  but  still  embracing  repre- 
sentatives of  other  walks  in  life,  were  scattered,  discussing  in 
under  tones  the  noble  qualities  of  the  illustrious  dead. 

When  members  of  the  bar  reached  the  residence,  the  pall- 
bearers stepped  from  the  ranks,  while  the  remainder  were 
conducted  into  the  house,  and  assigned  seats  immediately  to 


112  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERT - 

the  right  of  the  bier,  which  was  placed  in  the  folding  doors 
between  the  parlors.  The  space  to  the  left  of  the  casket  was 
occupied  by  ladies;  that  to  the  right  by  the  officiating  min- 
ister, visiting  clergymen,  choir,  and  gentlemen  not  of  the 
profession  The  coffin,  covered  with  the  rarest  flowers, 
offerings  of  love,  separated  the  assemblage  as  described. 
One  of  the  most  affecting  sights  was  the  bowed  and  feeble 

o  ^ 

frame  of  the  venerable  Judge  Underwood,  the  school-fellow 
and  companion  of  Judge  Robertson,  seated  near  the  body. 
The  old  man,  himself  on  the  shadowy  side  of  four  scon- 
years,  had  obeyed  the  summons  to  attend  the  obseqr, 
his  friend,  and  was  then  the  occupant  of  a  seat  near  to  all  that 
was  mortal  of  the  one  he  had  loved  so  well. 

Shortly  after  the  entrance  of  the  Bar,  the  religious  services 
began  with  the  solemn,  tender  refrain,  "Itiswell."  Dr.  Chris- 
tie then  read  the  poth  Psalm,  after  which  prayer  was  offered 
by  Rev.  Gelon  H.  Rout,  of  Versailles.  The  man  of  God 
then  read  the  hymn,  "There  is  an  hour  of  hallowed  p 
which  was  exquisitely  rendered  by  the  choir.  It  is  said  that 
this  hymn,  as  well  as  that  which  was  sung  at  the  close  of  the 
services,  was  selected  by  Judge  Robertson  to  be  sung  at  his 
funeral.  When  the  last  note  of  the  low,  sad  music  h:id 
floated  away,  Rev.  Mr.  Christie  began  the  delivery  of  the 
funeral  oration,  a  full  report  of  which  appears  in  another  part 
of  this  paper.  More  than  once  during  the  time  the  speaker 
was  upon  the  floor,  strong  men's  lips  were  seen  to  quiver,  an  1 
bright  eyes  to  moisten  with  tears.  The  sermon  spoaks  its 
own  merit;  the  universal  commendation  given  it  by  those 
who  heard  it  shows  the  appreciation  with  which  it  was  n  . 
ceived. 

Upon  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Christie's  remarks,  the  follow- 
ing named  gentlemen,  who  officiated  as  pall-bearers,  took 
charge  of  the  remains  and  conveyed  them  to  the  hear-c-  in 
waiting:  Hon.  Joseph  I).  Hunt,  Hon.  James  O.  Harrison, 
Hon.  Madison  C.  Johnson,  Hon.  George  B.  Kinkead,  H  -i 
F.  K.  Hunt,  Col.  YV.  C.  P.  Breckinridge,  Judge  Joseph  R. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  I  1 3 


Underwood,  Judge  Alvin  Duvall,  Attorney  General  Rod- 
man, Major  B.  F.  Buckner,  J.  R.  Morton,  Esq.,  Gen. 
John  B.  Huston,  Hon.  R.  A.  Buckner,  and  Judge  W.  B. 
Kinkead. 

The  line  of  procession  was  at  once  taken  to  the  cemetery, 
in  the  following  order: 

Pall-Bearers. 

Ministers. 

Hearse. 

Family  of  the  deceased. 

Ex-Judges  and  Officers  of  the  Court  of  Appeals. 
Judges  and  Officers  of  Courts,   and    Members  of  Bars  of 

other  Cities. 
Judges  of  County  and   Magistrates'  Courts. 

City  Council. 
Lexington  Bar. 

Citizens. 

The  cortege,  one  of  the  largest  ever  seen  in  this  city, 
moved  down  High  street  to  Mulberry;  down  Mulberry  to 
Main,  and  thence  to  the  cemetery.  There  the  remains  were 
deposited  in  the  family  vault ;  a  few  remarks  were  made  by 
Dr.  Seeley,  a  prayer  was  offered,  and  the  iron  door  closed 
upon  the  great  jurist,  to  await  the  last  summons  which  is  to 
call  him  before  the  Judge  of  the  Universe. 


EXTRACT    FROM    THK     FL'NEKAL    DISCOURSE    OF    THE 

REV.   ROBERT  CHRISTIE. 

Even  if  this  were  the  occasion  on  which  to  indulge  in  eu- 
logistic speech  concerning  the  illustrious  dead,  yo.ur  speaker 
is  not  one  to  attempt  that  sacred  duty.  A  just  and  dis- 
criminating tribute  to  one  possessing  such  forensic  ability, 
technical  knowledge,  ripe  scholarship,  varied  accomplish- 
ments, and  a  life  of  grand  achievements,  can  alone  come  from 
the  lips  or  pen  of  one  who  has  trodden  the  same  lofty  path 
with  himself,  and  who  is  competent  to  weigh  the  results  of  a 
7 


114  L1FE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

life  that  has  helped  to  shape  and  determine  the  great  events 
of  half  a  century.  The  materials  for  such  a  tribute  are  abun- 
dant, and  only  need  the  shaping  of  some  plastic  hand.  For 
his  career  was  not  like  that  of  the  meteor  which  dazzles  the 
eye  for  a  moment,  but  is  gone  before  you  can  analyze  to 
light  or  determine  its  path ;  but  rather  like  one  of  the  grand 
luminaries  that  rises  steadily  and  gradually,  increasing  in 
brilliancy  as  it  reaches  the  meridian,  then  slowly  sloping 
down  the  West  till  it  sinks  in  a  flood  of  glory.  His  place  in 
the  intellectual  heavens  can  be  determined  at  any  point 
along  the  path  of  three  score  years  of  our  Commonwealth's 
history. 

The  arena  which  he  selected  for  the  exercise  of  his  powers 
was  one  where  distinction  could  only  be  won  by  pre-eminent 
talent.  For  there  were  giants  at  the  bar  of  Lexington  in 
those  days.  One  who  could  successfully  cope  with  the  witch- 
ery of  Clay's  eloquence,  and  break  the  spell  which  the  sage 
of  Ashland  could  cast  over  the  minds  of  a  jury,  has  no  ficti- 
tious claim  to  greatness.  Those  fully  competent  to  judge, 
tell  us  that  no  man  ever  brought  to  the  Supreme  Bench  of 
Kentucky  greater  fitness  for  the  responsible  duties  of  the 
place  than  did  Chief  Justice  George  Robertson.  A  cursory 
glance  at  some  of  his  published  papers  shows  that  he  always 
took  a  large  grasp  of  any  subject,  whilst  no  detail  was  too 
insignificant  to  escape  his  penetrating  glance.  And  it  is  im- 
possible to  overlook  that  delicacy  and  sensitiveness  of  moral 
touch  which  is  visible  all  through  these  papers,  especially 
when  he  is  dealing  with  the  feelings  and  reputation  of  others. 

One  of  the  great  dailies  has  indicated  in  a  few  words  his 
professional  status.  It  says:  "His  professional  course  was 
marked  by  high  integrity  of  purpose,  and  while  presiding  as 
Judge  of  the  Appellate  Court,  he  enjoyed  to  an  eminent  de- 
gree the  confidence  of  the  bar  and  public." 

I  am  told  by  those  who  knew  him  well  that  he  never 
shrunk  from  any  work  of  usefulness;  that  he  was  one  whose 
superior  judgment  and  zeal  were  pressed  into  almost  every 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  115 


benevolent  enterprise  and  public  institution.  He  also  sus- 
tained and  filled  with  affectionate  assiduity  the  tenderest 
relations  of  domestic  life,  whether  of  husband,  father,  or 
grandsire.  But  to  use  his  own  language  touching  another: 
"  His  name  needs  not  our  panegyric.  The  carver  of  his  own 
fortune ;  the  founder  of  his  own  name ;  with  his  own  hand 
he  has  built  his  own  monument,  and  with  his  own  tongue 
and  his  own  pen  he  has  stereotyped  his  own  autobiography. 
With  hopeful  trust,  his  maternal  Commonwealth  consigns 
his  fame  to  the  justice  of  history  and  to  the  judgment  of 
ages  to  come." 

But  there  is  one  event  in  his  life  that  we  cannot  pass  by 
in  silence.  It  is  well  known  to  most  of  you  that  the  de- 
ceased did  not  confess  Christ  before  men  till  he  had  passed 
the  limit  of  four  score  years.  But  let  us  not  conclude  that 
he  then  for  the  first  time  considered  seriously  the  subject  of 
religion.  There  was  perhaps  no  layman  in  the  State  of  Ken- 
tncky  who  possessed  a  more  thorough  and  comprehensive- 
knowledge  of  the  science  of  theology.  He  was  familiar  with 
all  the  more  recent  attacks  on  revealed  religion.  He  under- 
stood thoroughly  the  principles  and  scope  of  positivism, 
development,  and  evolution.  I  mention  these  things  to  show 
how  great  was  the  triumph  of  faith  at  the  last.  When  he  did 
unite  with  the  Church,  although  his  mind  had  lost  some  of 
the  elasticity  of  youth,  it  had  lost  little  or  none  of  its  grasp 
and  clearness.  O,  how  beautiful  to  see  this  eminent  patri- 
arch sitting  for  the  first  time  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  trusting  to 
Him  alone  for  salvation. 

And  yet  the  beauty  of  the  scene  is  marred  by  a  tinge  of 
sadness  when  we  think  of  how  much  he  might  have  done  for 
Christ  had  he  taken  this  step  in  youth,  or  early  manhood. 
But  let  us  praise  the  long  suffering  and  love  of  God  that  let 
him  wander  so  long,  but  brought  him  home  at  last.  I  need 
not  dwell  on  the  good  confession  that  he  witnessed  during  the 
past-two  years.  But  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  trait  of  these 
latter  days  was  his  love  for  music.  Not  for  the  heroic  ballad 


Il6  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

or  grand  oratorio,  but  for  the  simple  and  tender  hymns  of 
childhood.  It  was  said  that  the  great  Dr.  Nott  was  soothed 
to  sleep  during  the  latter  months  of  his  life  by  the  cradle 
hymn, 

"Hush,  my  child!    be  still  and  slumber; 
Holy  angels  guard  thy  bed." 

When  the  great  Dr.  Guthrie  was  fighting  the  billows  of 
death,  he  asked  those  around  him  to  sing  something.  They 
asked  him  what  it  should  be,  when  he  replied:  "O,  sing  me 
a  bairn's  sang!"  So  our  departed  friend  loved  to  hear  these 
bairns'  sangs — the  songs  of  childhood.  Does  not  this  inter- 
pret the  words,  "Except  ye  be  converted,  and  become  as 
little  children,  ye  shall  in  nowise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  He  knew  for  months  that  death  might  come  at 
any  moment,  and  he  calmly  awaited  his  approach. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON'.  I  I/ 


APPENDIX 


A. 

SCENES  OF  EARLY  LIFE. 

The  following  addenda  were  originally  in  the  form  of  short 
foot  notes,  which,  having  been  revised  from  time  to  time, 
whenever  it  was  supposed  that  this  volume  was  about  to  be 
printed,  have  grown  by  successive  accretions,  without  refer- 
ence to  any  leading  idea  or  regular  plan,  too  large  for  the 
places  for  which  they  were  intended.  Although  discon- 
nected, deficient  in  pertinent  matter,  and  now  seen  to  be 
written  in  an  inflated  and  otherwise  faulty  style,  they  may 
shed  some  light  upon  their  subject,  and  are,  therefore,  not 
without  hesitation,  retained. 

If  habit  is  second  nature,  birth-place  is  second  parentage. 
Mantua,  bore  me  (tne  gemiit],  are  words  of  Virgil's  epitaph. 
People  of  the  German  race  speak  of  their  father-land ;  but 
every  one  of  English  blood  loves  to  call  his  native  spot  a 
mother.  And  aptly  so,  for  birth-place  and  mother  are  the 
first  teachers  of  the  dawning  mind. 

In  his  usual  aphoristic  style,  M.  Hugo  says:  "The  config 
uration  of  the  soil  decides  many  a  man's  actions.  The  earth 


U8  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 


is  more  his  accomplice  than  people  believe.  The  education 
of  hights  and  shadows  is  very  different.  The  mountain  is  a 
citadel ;  the  forest  an  ambuscade.  The  one  inspires  auda- 
city, the  other  teaches  craft."  But  it  is  needless  to  refer  to 
him,  or  to  Montesque,  or  to  Spencer,  to  prove  that  the  nat- 
ural scenes,  amid  which  a  character  is  formed,  are  both 
directly,  and,  by  modifying  the  social  environment,  the  mould 
of  many  of  its  leading  and  ineffaceable  traits.  Examples  of 
the  fact  are  ever  and  every  where  present. 

The  author  of  this  volume  had  simple  tastes,  cared  little 
for  display,  for  fashion,  or  fashionable  people;  loved  music 
and  beauty  in  all  its  forms,  and  was  endowed  with  a  vivify- 
ing imagination,  which  the  study  of  statutes  and  records 
may  have  in  a  large  measure  repressed,  but  could  not  de- 
stroy. No  Vendean  or  Swiss  ever  loved  his  country  more, 
or  had  a  larger  share  of  that  regard  for  place,  which  Phrenol- 
ogists call  by  the  rugged  name,  inhabitativeness.  He  had 
not  first  studied  nature  in  science,  "which  reveals  a  rigid 
immutable  order,  that  looks  like  self-subsistence,  and  does 
not  manifest  intelligence,  which  is  full  of  life,  variety,  and 
progressive  operation,"  but  by  early  observations  of  the 
forces  and  changes  displayed  in  the  objects  around  him,  he 
was  impressed  with  an  abiding  sense  of  an  all-pervading  and 
intelligent  power,  and  escaped  the  meshes  of  that  cheerless 
positivism,  which  holds  that  God  is  unknowable;  religion  is 
superstition.  Unlike  city-bred  persons,  he  was  much  given 
to  solitary  meditation,  and  could  readily  withdraw  his  thoughts 
from  the  distracting  influence  of  society. 

He  had  learned  to  act  and  think  before  he  had  learned  the 
authority  of  names,  and  was  always  an  independent  thinker 
— yielding  only  to  the  strength  of  reason.  He  had  not  been 
taught  that  the  chief  end  of  life  is  to  acquire  riches,  and  after 
obtaining  enough  to  make  him  independent,  he  subordi- 
nated the  gaining  of  property  to  nobler  objects.  These 
tastes  and  mental  habits  were  no  doubt,  to  a  considerable 
extent,  the  result  of  the  physical  surroundings  of  his  early 
life. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  I  1 9 


His  boyhood  was  passed  in  the  romantic  region  near  the 
confluence  of  Dix  and  Kentucky  rivers.  The  approaches  to 
these  streams  have  been  denuded  of  their  first  vesture  of 
evergreens,  and  the  waters  have  shrunk  to  half  their  former 
volume.  But  the  deep  ravines,  with  their  summer  brooks 
and  winter  torrents,  and  the  vertical  limestone  cliffs,  are  still 
there,  and  the  southeastern  horizon  is  still  a  waving  line  of 
purple-crested  knobs,  looking,  in  the  distance,  like  the  de- 
lectable mountains,  upon  whose  pastoral  hights  Christian 
rested  on  his  way. 

When  the  author  was  a  boy,  most  of  the  fine  country  in 
this  neighborhood  was  covered  with  the  primitive  forest,  un- 
broken save  by  scattered  "settlements,"  which  were  either 
clearings,  surrounded  with  a  worm-fence,  and  dotted  with 
fresh  stumps,  from  whose  midst  rose  the  little  cabin,  or 
the  more  stately  hewed-low  house  of  the  settler,  and  from 
whose  edges  were  heard  the  ring  of  the  woodchopper's  stroke 
and  the  crashing  thunder  of  falling  trees ;  or  they  were  dead- 
enings,  whose  belted  and  sapless  timber  was  left  to  sink 
beneath  the  destroying  hand  of  decay  and  of  the  storm. 

Those  who  have  only  seen  the  dwarfed,  scraggy,  scattered, 
and  degenerate  trees,  which  are  all  that  the  Vandal  axe  has 
left  in  the  central  portions  of  Kentucky,  can  form  no  due 
conception  of  the  girth  and  reach  of  the  Titans  that  have 
fallen,  or  of  the  majesty  of  their  vast  assembly.*  Large  up- 
land tracts  of  these  wilds  'were  free  from  undergrowth,  and 
-their  mossy  paths,  more  beautiful  and  more  springy  to  the 
tread  than  carpets  of  heaviest  ply,  were  columned  by  stately 
trunks  and  arched  and  groined  by  interlacing  boughs  into 
"long-drawn  aisles  and  fretted  vaults,"  whose  dim  and  sol- 
emn grandeur  is  feebly  imitated  in  the  noblest  cathedrals. 
Depressed  spots,  the  censers  of  these  first  temples,  were 
filled  with  spicey  shrubs  and  flowering  vines,  which  at  certain 
seasons  exhaled  varied  and  delicate  perfumes.  In  the  morn- 

*The  writer  published  the  immediately  following  portions  of  this  article 
in  an  early  number  of  the  Dispatch. 


I 

I2Q  LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


ing  of  a  still  summer  day,  these  woods  were  musical  with  birds; 
at  noon,  their  silence  was  unbroken ;  in  the  evening,  their 
depths  resounded  with  the  droning  orchestra  of  the  insect 
world,  "their  ever  changing  magnificence  never  grew  stale.1' 
In  a  calm,  they  were  solitudes,  into  which  the  Egeria  of  med- 
itation loved  to  retreat  at  the  call  of  her  votary.  When 
"the  trees  against  a  stormy  sky  their  giant  branches  tost," 
the  display  of  force  was  of  that  resistless  kind  from  which  the 
mind  derives  its  conception  of  almighty  power.  In  winter, 
the  naked  spray  traced  lovely  embroideries  on  the  overarch- 
ing sky,  or  gave  forth  a  play  of  many  colored  lights  from  its 
crystal  incrustations  of  sleet.  These  woods  were  gay  and 
brilliant  in  the  spring.  Their  saddest  and  most  splendid  sea- 
son was  the  fall — the  foliage,  ere  it  fell,  put  on  all  the  glories 
of  the  evening  clouds,  and  at  the  rising  and  the  going  down 
of  the  sun,  tree  tops  and  clouds  blended  into  one,  presented 
through  the  hazy  air  a  sublime  panorama  of  the  apocalypic 
vision  of  the  Holy  City  coming  down  from  heaven.  How 
vivid  and  pure  the  effect  of  scenes  like  these,  compared  with 
second-hand  impressions  made  by  books,  or  the  corrupting 
influences  of  towns !  Who  can  doubt  that  the  mind  will  be- 
come more  fraught  with  images  of  beauty,  more  earnest  and 
elevated  by  listening  to  the  voices,  and  watching  the  work- 
ing of  nature,  and  by  associations  with  plain,  artless, -and 
thoughtful  people,  than  by  conning  in  hexameters,  how  Ty- 
tyrus  dallied  with  Amaryllis  in  the  shade,  or  by  mingling  in 
the  frivolities  of  fashionable  society? 

Forests  have  been  the  source  of  fertilizing  streams  and  of 
renovating  men.  They  cherished  all  of  manly  virtue  that 
social  corruption  left  in  the  effete  old  world,  and  gave  it  a 
nobler  civilization  than  it  lost.  And  in  the  new  they  trained 
wise  founders  and  loyal  subjects  of  free  States,  who  combined 
the  swain's  simplicity  with  the  forecaste  and  daring  of  the 
hero,  and  were  worthy  of  both  the  bucolic  and  the  epic  lay! 
Vivite  Sylvae !  Farewell,  ye  woods !  Great  countries  bereft 


LIFE    OK    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  121 


of  trees  have  become  material  and  moral  wastes.      May  ours 
escape  their  fate !  * 

In  these  woodland  homes  the  sturdy,  thoughtful,  and  hon- 
est pioneers,  of  winter  evenings,  by  the  great  log  fires,  told 
of  the  privations  they  had  endured,  of  the  never-to-be-forgot- 
ten "hard  winter,"  of  their  imperfect  shelter,  their  scanty 
and  rough  fare,  their  hair-breadth  escapes  from  savage  men 
and  beasts,  and  inspired  their  attentive  young  ones  with  a 
firmness  of  purpose  which  enabled  them  to  face  dangers, 
moral  and  physical,  and  in  the  midst  of  difficulty  and  trial 
feel  with  the  son  of  Anchises  in  like  case.  We,  too,  in  after 
times  may  think  of  this  with  pride.  The  first  settlers  pro- 
duced and  raised  a  vigorous  breed,  not  only  by  commonly 
transmitting  to  their  descendants  strong  nerves,  strong  bones, 
and  shapely  forms,  but  also,  partly  from  necessity,  partly 
from  choice,  by  permitting  the  law  of  natural  selection  to 
have  free  course,  they  inadvertently  adopted  the  regulation 
of  Lycurgus,  which  required  all  the  feeble  and  deformed 
children  to  be  put  to  death.  Having  undergone  exposure  in 
youth,  and  being  stout  and  hearty  themselves,  they  inferred 
that  the  exposure  had  made  them  so,  overlooking  the  need 
of  strong  constitutions  to  enable  them  to  survive  the  expo- 
sure. The  sleazy  home-made  clothing  of  that  day  was  far 
*  in  "The  Settler,"  by  A.  B.^Street,  are  these  lines: 

The  paths  which  wound  mid  gorgeous  trees, 

The  stream  whose  bright  lips  kissed  the  flowers, 

The  winds  that  swelled  their  harmonies, 

Through  those  sun-hiding  bowers  ; 

The  temple  vast,  the  green  arcade, 

The  nestling  vale,  the  grassy  glade, 

Dark  cave  and  swampy  lair, 

These  scenes  and  sounds  majestic,  made 

His  world,   his  pleasures  there. 

Humble  the  lot,  yet  his  the  race 

When  liberty  sent  forth  her  cry, 

Who  thronged  in  conflict's  deadliest  place, 

To  fight,   to  bleed,   to  die  ; 

Who  cumbered  Bunker's  hight  of  red 

By  hope  through  weary  years  were  led, 

And  witnessed  Yorktown's  sun 

Blaze  on  a  nation's  banner  spread 

A  nation's  freedom  won. 


122  LIFE   OF    GF.OKGE    ROP^RTSOX. 


less  warm  than  the  thick  woolens  now  in  common  use.  Most 
boys,  even  of  the  wealthiest  families,  had  no  shoes  in  sum- 
mer. Many  of  them  not  even  in  winter. 

One  of  the  author's  stiunclu.it  friends,  who  had  been  his 
neighbor  in  boyhood,  used  to  tell  that  he  himself  went 
the  round  of  the  traps  he  had  set  for  quails  and  hares,  by 
dextrously  stepping  on  one  and  then  on  the  other  of  two 
shingles,  to  protect  his  bare  feet  from  the  snow  and  the 
briars.  The  stone  bruise,  which  compelled  its  victim  to  limp 
on  his  toe;  the  stumped  toe,  which  made  him  hobble  on  his 
heel;  chapped  feet,  which  made  him  wince,  when  they  un- 
derwent the  indispensable  scrubbing  at  bed  time,  were  the 
rule,  sound  feet,  the  exception.  And  then  all  children  too 
large  to  sleep  in  the  trundle-bed  in  the  family  room,  took  a 
Russian  bath  every  winter  night  by  going  into  a  room  with- 
out fire,  stripping  to  their  short  shirts,  and  jumping  into  the 
frozen  brown  linen  sheets.  In  the  morning  they  went  to  the 
spring,  as  the  author  has  herein  related,  to  wash  themselves. 
It  is  strange  that  such  air-loving,  out-door  people  as  the  first 
settlers  should  have  taken  great  pains  to  exclude  fresh  air 
from  those  who  were  ill. 


LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  123 


B. 

GARRARD   COUNTY. 

If  the  place  of  youth  is  important,  for  preparation,  hardly 
less  so  is  the  place  of  manhood,  for  achievement.  The 
woods  are  a  better  school  than  stage,  more  favorable  to 
study  than  to  action,  forces  that  have  much  range  or  speed, 
like  cavalry  and  artillery,  require  space.  Whether  Judge 
Robertson's  interests  were  best  promoted  by  his  long  stay  in 
the  agricultural  and  then  sparsely  peopled  district  in  which 
he  was  born,  depends  on  the  question  whether  fortune  and 
fame  are  to  be  taken  as  part  of  those  interests.  Unquestion- 
ably he  could,  at  any  great  commercial  center,  have  speedily 
attained  a  front  rank  in  his  profession. 

Lancaster,  his  home  for  thirty  years  or  more,  is  situated 
on  a  high  table  land,  near  the  center  of  the  State,  and  fifty 
years  ago  contained  a  population  of  five  or  six  hundred.  Its 
people  were  as  intelligent,  hospitable,  and  honest  as  those  of 
any  other  town  in  Kentucky,  then  or  since.  Their  houses 
were  mostly  of  brick,  well  built  and  comfortable.  Less  than 
half  the  surrounding  country  had  been  cleared  of  the  forest 
which  bounded  the  view  in  every  direction.  The  arable 
lands  of  the  county  produced  crops  far  in  excess  of  the  home 
demand,  and  there  were  no  accessible  foreign  markets,  ex- 
cept for  tobacco,  which  was  floated  down  the  Kentucky 
river  in  flat-boats,  and  for  hogs,  horses  and  mules,  which 
were  driven  South,  by  way  of  Cumberland  gap.  Provisions 
of  all  kinds  were  exceedingly  cheap  and  of  excellent  quality ; 


LI1-E    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


quails  and  squirrels  abounded ;  deer  frequented  the  outskirts 
of  the  county,  and  in  the  fall  wild  pigeons  in  countless  num- 
bers settled  upon  the  oak  trees ;  the  woods  were  well  stored 
with  honey,  and  produced  abundance  of  delicious  sugar  and 
molasses. 

The  fleeces  of  their  own  flocks,  flax  and  cotton  from  their 
own  fields,  supplied  this  Arcadian  people  with  most  of  their 
clothing,  their  carpets  and  bed  clothes.  These  were  spun 
and  woven  in  the  country.  Their  hats  and  shoes  were  made 
in  the  town.  The  only  importations  they  needed  were  iron 
and  certain  articles  of  hardware,  mordants,  used  in  coloring 
yarns,  porcelain  and  the  materials  for  holiday  attire.  The 
furniture  made  in  the  village  was  handsome  and  durable. 
Materials  for  building,  except  nails  (the  cut  nail  had  been 
newly  introduced),  were  excellent,  and  could  be  had  for  little 
money  or  labor.  The  difference  between  the  rich  and  poor, 
at  this  time,  was  in  the  quantity,  not  in  the  quality,  of  their 
possessions,  and  as  there  were  no  fashions  of  the  rich  for 
families  of  moderate  means  to  ape, 

"Their  sober  wishes  never  learned  to  stray 
Beyond  the  cool  sequestered  vale  of  life." 

Lancaster  was  therefore  a  paradise  for  the  poor.  If  it  had 
not  been,  Judge  Robertson  could  not  have  lived,  comfortably 
as  he  did,  on  his  slender  salary.  And  still,  Lancaster  was 
not  all  the  poet  has  painted  Sweet  Auburn,  nor  was  the  age, 
to  all,  golden.  It  was  the  iron  age  of  children,  they  were  in 
charge  of  or  compelled  much  of  their  time  to  be  with  negroes, 
who  either  had  been  born  or  were  but  one  or  two  removes 
from  those  who  had  been  born  in  Guinea.  Ignorant  races 
are  superstitious.  The  supernatural  creations  of  the  negroes 
were  all  of  a  sinister  kind.  Their  dreams,  sombre,  like  their 
skins,  producing  none  of  the  Naiads,  Dryads,  Pucks,  Ober- 
ons  or  Santa  Clauses,  of  happier  mythologies,  peopled  the 
night  with  ghosts,  goblins,  and  witches.  The  old  mammies 
used  to  take  forks  to  bed  with  them  to  keep  off  the  witches. 
They  believed  in  obeah  charms,  and  interpreted  almost  all 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  125 


the  ordinary  and  all  unusual  events  of  the  day  into  omens  of 
evil.      The  "uncles  and  aunts"  of  these  benighted  children  of 
the  sun,  so  infested  the  minds  of  most  children  in  years  with 
their  delusions,  that  they  were  afraid  to  pass  a  church  yard, 
to  sleep  alone,  to  go  unattended  through  the  dark,  and  un 
willing  to  turn  back,  after  starting  to  a  place,  without  making 
a  cross-mark  and  spitting  on  the  intersection,  to  prevent  bad 
luck.      If  a  belief  in  the  supernatural  be,  as  some  suppose,  a 
delusion,   and   not   innate,    early   associations  may   have   led 
Judge  Robertson  to  look,  if  not  with  much  credence,  with 
not  little  interest  into  the  evidence  of  the  responses  and  appa- 
ritions that  are  alledged  to  have  come  from  another  world, 
and  to  have  surmised  to  his  dying  day  that  there  may  be 
realities  corresponding  with    the  shadows  which  flit   in   the 
•  gloaming  between  two  states  of  existence. 

He  had  been  fortunate  in  having  Joshua  Fry  and  Samuel 
Finley  for  his  teachers.  Most  of  the  schools  were  mere 
prisons  to  which  children  were  sent  with  the  mistaken  view 
of  keeping  them  out  of  mischief.  School  books  were  gener- 
ally destitute  of  explanations,  and  the  teachers,  with  some 
honorable  exceptions,  too  ignorant  to  supply  the  deficiencies. 
Punishments  were  inflicted  for  trivial  delinquencies,  and  were 
often  cruel,  sometimes  dangerous.  A  boy  could  not  be  for 
a  long  time  an  inverted  V,  by  putting  his  finger  on  the  floor, 
without  danger  of  cerebral  congestion,  and  this  was  no  un- 
usual punishment.  The  great  want  of  the  town  was  a  suffi- 
cient supply  of  wholesome  water  It  contained  no  cisterns, 
no  perennial  springs,  and  but  a  single  well.  This  would 
have  been  a  source  of  insufferable  inconvenience,  if  slaves 
had  not  been  numerous.  In  seasons  of  drought  this  well 
.would  become  dry,  and  then  water  had  to  be  hauled  from 
distant  springs.  The  insufficiency  and  quality  of  the  \vater 
were  no  doubt  a  principal  cause  of  the  frequent  epidemics 
with  which  the  village  was  scourged.  And  it  was  a  terrible 
thing  to  be  even  a  little  sick  at  Lancaster,  because  any  indis- 
position, if  a  doctor  were  called  in,  almost  inevitably  resulted 


126  LIFE    OF    GFORGE    ROBERTSON. 


in  great  exhaustion.      Hahneman  had  not  btea  heard  of,  but 

o 

Sangrado  had.  Medicine  of  the  most  nauseous  kind  was  ad- 
ministered in  its  most  nauseous  form,  and  in  the  heroic  doses, 
which  the  gentlemen  of  the  veterinary  art  (vulgarly  called 
horse-doctors,  notwithstanding  they  also  doctor  oxen)  give  to 
their  patients.  Every  physician  carried  in  his  pockets,  as 
regularly  as  he  did  his  spectacles,  a  spring  and  a  thumb 
lancet,  and  in  almost  every  stage  of  almost  every  disease,  the 
only  option  of  the  sufferer  was  whether  he  would  hold  out 
his  arm  to  the  one  or  to  the  other.  So  great  was  the  rage 
for  phlebotomy,  that  it  was  considered  a  good  prophylactic 
precaution  to  bleed  well  people  every  spring,  and  it  was  held 
indispensable  that  one  blade  of  every  jack-knife  should  be  a 
fleam.  Warm  water  was  freely  given,  not  in  pursuance  of 
Sangrado's  theory,  to  supply  the  place  of  the  abstracted 
blood,  but  to  assist  vomiting,  and  thereby  prevent  a  renewal 
of  the  blood.  For  all  other  purposes  the  use  of  water  was 
strictly  interdicted,  and  fresh  air  was  declared  by  these  (ialens 
to  be  peculiarly  noxious  to  people  who  were  ill.  A  man  or  boy 
who  was  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  sick  at  Lancaster,  in  those 
days,  may  possibly  forgive,  but  can  never  forget,  his  treat- 
ment. Some  of  the  most  noted  cures  were  of  persons  who 
were  given  up  by  their  physicians,  and  were  allowed  by  their 
nurses  free  use  of  air  and  water,  and  plenty  of  good  food.* 

Members  of  Judge  Robertson's  family  were  often  ill,  him- 
self never — but  once,  and  his  remedy  was  peculiar  Having 
been  affected  for  several  days  with  nausea  or  sick  stomach, 
he  received  through  the  post-office  a  fresh  number  of  the 
North  American  Review,  in  which  there  was  an  article  re- 
commending cold  boiled  cabbage  for  his  complaint ;  he  tried 
it  at  once  and  was  relieved. 

Lancaster  rarely  had  a  stationed  preacher.  The  inhabit- 
ants were  divided  among  so  many  religious  sects  that  no  one 
denomination  was  able  to  build  a  church  or  pay  a  regular 

*It  is  needless  to  f-ay  that  Ihe  doctors  ol  Lancaster  \\en-,  in  theory  and 
practice,  abreast  of  the  most  advanced  skill  of  their  times. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  I2/ 

pastor,  but  they  united  to  erect  one  church,  in  which  the 
different  denominations  worshiped  in  rotation.  Religion  here 
was  not  so  imposing  as  in  the  "dim  religious  light"  of  a 
Trinity  or  St.  Paul's,  but  was  probably  fully  as  sincere,  and 
not  less  effectual.  The  prayer-meetings  were  commonly  light- 
ed by  a  single  tallow  dip,  not  much  larger  or  whiter  than  a 
catalpa  bean.  When  this  feeble  luminary  needed  snuffing, 
some  brother  valiantly  used  his  thumb  and  forefinger  to  re- 
move the  charred  wick,  and  sometimes  put  out  the  light ; 
on  such  occasions,  as  dwelling  houses  were  remote  from  the 
church,  and  matches  had  not  been  invented,  the  congrega- 
tion would  disperse. 

This  usually  quiet  little  town  was  the  scene  of  many  a 
bloody  set-to.  Numerous  individuals  and  families  in  the 
county,  each  thought  the  other  too  many,  whenever  these 
opposing  parties  met,  which  some  of  them  were  almost  sure 
to  do,  in  town,  on  every  public  day,  then  and  there,  in  the 
dialect  of  the  time — 

"They  gouged  and  they  bit, 
Scratched,  pommeled  and  fit," 

with  fists,  feet,  missiles,  knives  (pistols  were  not  in  common 
use),  to  the  unmitigated  annoyance  of  every  body%  except 
possibly  the  doctors,  lawyers,  and  undertakers,  to  whom  they 
afforded  some  employment. 

Social  intercourse  at  Lancaster  was  unrestrained  and  cheer- 
ful. Mr.  Robertson's  house  was  the  abode  of  neatness, 
abundance,  and  cheerful  welcomes,  and  so  were  the  houses  of 
most  of  his  neighbors  The  home  society  was  well  informed 
and  persons  of  culture,  chiefly  preachers  and  lawyers,  were 
frequent  visitors  from  abroad.  One  man,  a  bachelor  of 
middle  age,  visited  Judge  Robertson's  house  every  evening 
during  many  years.  Regardless  of  weather,  or  if  detain- 
ed, of  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  he  was  sure  to  make  his 
appearance  between  sundown  and  midnight,  and  his  camlet 
cloak,  often  dripping  wet,  and  his  tin  lantern  were  welcome 
sights  to  the  whole  family,  especially  of  a  bleak  winter  night. 


128  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

He  brought  all  the  news,  foreign  and  domestic,  and  was  a 
pleasant  companion,  of  strong  understanding,  much  good 
humor,  considerable  reading,  retentive  memory,  and  warm 
attachments.  He  was  fond  of  a  smoke,  a  chat,  a  good  laugh, 
a  game  of  back-gammon  or  whist,  and  fondest  of  all  of  a 
savory  luncheon,  which,  if  not  tendered,  he  did  not  hesitate 
to  call  for.  His  presence  was  especially  welcome  to  the 
younger  members  of  the  family,  because  he  had  a  wonderful 
store  of  tales  and  anecdotes,  and  could  recite  Tom  Jones, 
Ivanhoe,  The  Children  of  the  Abbey,  Tales  of  a  Grandfather. 
or  any  of  the  many  books  he  had  read,  with  vividness  and 
close  minuteness.  This  nightly  visitant  and  his  host  had 
been  boys  together,  and  they  never  tired  of  talking  about  the 
persons,  events,  and  scenes  of  by-gone  years.  lie  died 
about  a  year  before  the  Judge  removed  from  Lancaster,  and 
there  was  one  less  tie  to  bind  him  to  that  place. 

It  has  been  said  that  people  are  every  where  the  same.  If 
this  is  true,  the  world  is  full  of  brave  and  generous  hearts, 
for  certain  it  is  that  nobler  men  and  women  do  not  live  in  any 
clime,  or  in  song  or  story,  than  some  of  those  who  once  trod 
and  now  repose  beneath  the  soil  of  Garrard  Their  memory 
will  ever,  to  those  who  knew  them,  make  th.it  county  a 
Holy  land.:;: 

*  Those  who  wish  to  know  more  of  this  conn!  \  mav  be  gratified  hv  raid- 
ing a  metrical  history,  called  "The  Song  of  Lancaster,"  bj  Mrs.  F-lu^-nia 
Potts,  the  accomplished  daughter  of  Col  (,<•,)!-,•  \V.  lAmb'tp.  The  \\rik-r 
has  not  seen,  hut  has  heard  favorable  mention  ol  the  \\ork  hv  rum]  et*n1 
judges. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  I2g 


C. 
HIS  LOVE  OF  COUNTRY. 

His  patriotism  was  both  instinctive,  or  an  involuntary  ex- 
tension of  his  attachment  for  other  objects,  and  rational.  He 
experienced  in  its  full  force  that  unreckoning  passion  which 
made  the  exiled  Foscari  "Feel  that  his  soul  moldered  in 
his  bosom,"  and  forced  him  back  to  Venice,  though  to  return 
was  to  die,  and  which  hurried  the  dying  Scott  from  Italy,  that 
he  might  hear  once  more  the  ripple  of  the  Tweed.  Judge 
Robertson  gave  utterance  to  this  unconquerable  sentiment, 
when  he  ,caid,  "And  then,  whenever  or  wherever  it  may  be 
our  doom  to  look  for  the  last  time  on  earth,  we  may  die 
justly  proud  of  the  title,  Kentuckian,  and  with  our  expiring 
breath  cordially  exclaim,  Kentucky  as  she  was — Kentucky  as 
she  is — Kentucky  as  she  A'ill  be — KENTUCKY  FOREVER." 

His  native  State  was  the  only  country  he  ever  knew.  He 
was  born  two  years  before  she  became  a  State.  He  had 
passed  the  whole  of  his  life  within  her  borders,  except  the 
four  sessions  which  he  spent  in  Congress.  She  was  the  the- 
ater of  all  his  domestic  and  social  enjoyments,  of  all  his  efforts 
and  his  griefs,  the  home  of  all  his  living  friends  and  the  grave 
of  all  his  dead  ones.  From  her  he  had  derived  all  he  was ; 
from  her  he  looked  for  all  he  hoped  in  this  life.  This,  on  all 
proper  occasions,  he  gratefully  acknowledged.  He  also  had 
a  strong  rational  regard  for  Kentucky.  He  had  learned  her 
physical  geography  and  resources,  and  was  familiar  with  the 
character  of  her  people.  Traditionally,  or  as  an  actor,  he 
knew  every  event  in  her  history,  and  he  believed  and  unhes- 
itatingly asserted  that,  all  things  considered,  there  was  not  a 
more  desirable  dwelling  place  for  man  upon  the  earth  than 
this  "Hesperian  land,"  and  he  strenuously  opposed  that  no- 
tion, which  is  the  bane  of  American  households,  that  families 
should  scatter  in  quest  of  wealth.  He  thought  that  the  union 


I3O  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

and  co-operation  of  kindred  hearts  and  hands  would  more 
than  compensate  for  the  loss  of  any  prospects  of  material  ad- 
vancement that  could  be  afforded  by  a  voluntary  exile  from 
country  and  home.  He  also  had  a  peculiar  regard  for  the 
counties  in  which  his  youth  and  early  manhood  had  been 
spent,  and  was  not  alone  warmly  attached  to  the  people  who 
had  appreciated  his  solid,  rather  than  showy,  worth,  and  had 
elevated  him  as  high  as  they  could,  in  preference  to  other 
men  of  ability  and  of  fortune  and  fortunate  connections ;  but 
he  had  a  strong  affection  for  the  natural  objects  with  which 
he  was  familiar.  When  he  crossed  to  the  south  side  of  the 
Kentucky  river,  his  countenance  seemed  to  say,  "the  very 
winds  feel  native  to  my  veins."  Some  now  living  have  not 
forgotten  his  chagrin  and  distress  when,  during  one  of  his 
occasional  visits  to  Garrard,  he  saw  that  a  magnificent  elm, 
which  had  stood  in  a  bend  of  the  road,  on  his  homestead 
place,  and  under  which  his  children  used  to  play,  and  which 
had  been  the  first  and  most  beautiful  object  that,  in  other 
days,  had  greeted  his  vision  as  he  drew  near  home,  had  been 
felled  by  his  tenant,  under  the  pretext  that  it  shaded  the 
land.  Judge  R.  never  forgot  this  act  of  wantonness.  He 
had  designated  a  spot  in  Garrard  county  as  the  burial  place 
of  himself  and  family,  and  it  required  an  absence  of  many 
years  to  change  this  intention  ;  and  it  was  only  after  the 
beautiful  cemetery  at  Lexington  had  been  established  that 
he  gathered  the  bones  of  his  deceased  children  into  the  vault 
which  now  guards  his  own  ashes.  He  also  became  so  at- 
tached, from  clustering  memories,  to  his  home  in  Lexington 
that,  in  his  helpless  and  desolate  old  age,  no  persuasion  could 
induce  him  to  abandon  it.  He  expressed  a  desire  to  die  in 
thfc  house  and  in  the  very  spot  where  his  youngest  son  and 
wife  had  expired. 

This  man  of  simple  and  loving  affections,  not  only  loved, 
he  also  lived  for  his  country.  What  it  is  to  do  this  he  has 
told  us  both  by  his  words  and  by  his  acts:  "What  is  it  to 
live  for  one's  country?  It  is  not  to  get  rich,  nor  to  hold 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  I  3 1 

office,  nor  to  be  gazed  at  with  vulgar  admiration,  nor  to  win 
a  battle,  nor  to  make  a  noise  in  the  world.  Many  who  have 
accomplished  all  these  have  been  a  curse  rather  than  a  bless- 
ing to  mankind.  But  he,  and  he  alone,  who  honestly 
dedicates  his  talents  and  his  example  to  the  happiness  and 
improvement  of  his  race,  lives  for  his  country,  whatever  may 
be  his  sphere.  He  who  seeks  his  own  aggrandizement  at  the 
expense  of  truth,  or  principle,  or  candor,  does  not  live  for 
his  country — nor  can  he  live  for  his  country,  in  the  full  sense, 
whose  example  is  demoralizing,  or  in  any  way  pernicious. 
But  he  truly  lives  for  his  country,  who,  in  all  the  walks  of 
life  and  relations  of  society,  does  as  much  good  and  as  little 
harm  as  possible,  and  always  acts  according  to  the  disinter- 
ested suggestions  of  a  pure  conscience  and  a  sound  head. 
Whatever  may  be  his  condition — high  or  low,  conspicuous 
or  obscure — he,  whose  life  exemplifies  and  commends  the 
negative  and  positive  virtues,  personal,  social,  and  civil — who 
lives  in  the  habit  of  pure  morality,  enlarged  patriotism,  and 
disinterested  philanthropy — and  whose  conduct  and  example 
are,  as  far  as  known  and  felt,  useful  to  mankind — he,  and  he 
alone,  lives  for  his  country.  And  hence  it  is  perfectly  true, 
that  a  virtuous  peasant  in  a  thatched  hut,  may  live  more  for 
his  country  than  many  idolized  orators,  triumphant  politicians, 
or  laureled  chieftains." 

These  are  his  words.  His  life  afforded  a  perfect  illus- 
tration of  them.  Entertaining  and  acting  up  to  these 
sentiments,  although  many  who  were  not  in  any  respect  his 
superiors,  left  him  far  behind  on  the  road  to  power  and  afflu- 
ence. He  never  thought  that  his  life,  either  as  an  experience 
or  an  example,  was  a  failure.  Disappointment  never  gave 
him  any  taint  of  misanthrop,  or  made  him  affect  the  part  of 
a  Cincinnatus. 


132  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


D. 
LOVE  OF  MUSIC. 

The  violin,   accompanied  or  not  by  the  piano,   sometimes, 
after  the  labors  of  the  day  were  over,   afforded  him  an  inno- 
cent resource  for  the  entertainment  of  himself  and  friends, 
and  was  also  frequently  the  inspirer  and  the  interpreter  of  his 
most  serious  musings.       His  mother  taught  him  the  scales. 
With  this  exception,    his  fine    natural    ear  was    only  self- 
taught.      Yet,  without  even  frequent  opportunities  of  hear- 
ing first  rate    performers,     he   attained    a    skill    in  all    keys 
and  in  several  different  positions,   which    evinced  a  capaci- 
ty for    the    highest    excellence.       He    played    lively   tunes 
with  a  dash  and  fire  which  few  amateurs  could  equal,   and 
could  render  plaintive  melodies   in  tones  that  bewailed  the 
loved  and  lost,   and  revealed  delicate  shades  of  feeling  and 
conception  too   subtle    to   be   expressed    by  words.       Like 
Sivori,   he  fully  appreciated  the  richness  and  power  of  the 
base  or  G  string,   and  drew  from  it  strains  of  surpassing  vol- 
ume and  softness.      His  most  intimate  friends  can  never  hear 
Lea  Rigg,    or  Turbaned  Turk,    or  The  Arkansas  Traveler, 
without    remembering   how  exquisitely  and    how  peculiarly 
they  were  played  by  him.      His  favorite  time  for  these  musi- 
cal interludes  was  the  evening,   as  he  walked  to  and  fro  in  a 
large  room  or  hall.       He  dearly  loved  the  old  church  tunes 
which  his  mother  and  sisters  used  to  sing,   and  the  beautiful 
melody,    Old   Folks   at    Home,    for  a  reason  which    he    lias 
stated  in  this  volume,  never  failed  to  move  him  deeply.      He 
requested  that  it  should  be  sung  on  two  occasions,  when  his 
attendants  supposed  he  was  dying.       On  the  first  of  these 
occasions,    the  fair  cantatrice,    the   obliging  and  deservedly 
renowned  Miss  Carey,   overcome  by  the  sadness  of  the  cir- 
cumstances, was  unable  to  proceed.      Many  of  the  hours  that 
he  passed  in  darkness,    reclining  in    his  invalid's  chair,  were 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON'.  133 

solaced  by  songs  of  kind  men  and  women,  who  had  learned 
that  he  was  fond  of  music.  Itinerant  minstrels  were  often 
called  in,  and  not  unfrequently  some  amateur  band  would 
play  near  his  window  at  night. 

At  his  own  house  his  services  as  a  musician  were  often 
requested  by  his  children,  grand-children,  and  their  young 
friends.  For  hours,  during  two  or  three  evenings  of  every 
week,  he  would  play  for  them  to  dance,  and  would  partici- 
pate heartily  in  their  innocent  mirth.  Most  of  those  who 
were,  from  time  to  time,  present  at  those  gatherings,  pre- 
ceded their  kind  entertainer  to  the  grave.  The  rest  are 
scattered,  and  the  large  and  cheerful  room  in  which  these 
re-unions  were  held,  has  ceased  to  exist.  The  old  violin 
remains,  and  is  the  most  eloquent  souvenir  of  its  departed 
master. 

In  his  valedictory  to  the  law  class  he  expressed  his  estimate 
of  music  in  these  words :  "Music,  Luther's  intellectual  ca- 
tholican,  next  to  the  Bible,  in  his  judgment,  as  an  adversary 
of  the  devil,  should  not  be  derided  or  undervalued.  It  ex- 
hilerates  and  tranquilizes  the  mind,  elevates  and  purifies  the 
heart,  and  thus  contributes  much  of  what  scarcely  any  other 
amusement  can  as  innocently  contribute  to  improvement  and 
happiness." 

E. 

DOMESTIC  RELATIONS. 

To  know  Judge  Robertson  was  to  know  him  at  home;  to 
know  him  there  was  to  love  him.  The  strongest  wish  of  his 
youth  was  to  have  a  settled  home,  and  when  he  had  obtained 
one,  to  make  that  home  happy  was  the  central  object  of  all 
his  efforts.  Nobly  did  he  redeem  the  hostages  which,  he 
says,  he  gave  to  fortune  when  he  married,  and  the  pledge 
which  he  made  to  cherish  his  wife  and  children.  His  wife 
deserved  his  care,  for  she  valued  his  love  and  the  endearments 
of  her  home  above  all  other  pleasures,  and  accomplished  her- 


134  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

self  in  all  housewifely  skill  and  in  every  domestic  virtue. 
His  letters  to  his  wife,  children,  and  friends,  if  they  had  been 
preserved,  would  have  afforded  the  best  evidence  that  could 
now  be  exhibited  of  the  ties  that  bound  him  to  his  family. 
These,  written  in  a  plain  style,  related  to  all  the  occasions  of 
joy  and  of  sorrow,  congratulation  and  of  consolation  incident 
to  life,  and  evince  a  more  varied  experience,  a  wisdom  more 
chastened  and  profound,  and  a  wider  sympathy  than  he 
manifested  to  the  world  But  most  of  these  have  been 
inconsiderately  destroyed,  and  among  them  many  commu- 
nications that  deserved  a  better  fate,  addressed  to  him  by 
distinguished  and  by  obscure  friends,  and  which  would  show 
the  regard  felt  for  him  by  those  who  knew  him  well. 

The  following  letter,  written  while  he  was  on  his  way  to 
Congress  for  the  last  time,  has  been  casually  found,  and  con- 
tains a  promise  which  he  faithfully  kept,  by  resigning  his  seat 
for  two  years  in  Congress,  to  avoid  separation  from  his  wife 
and  young  children,  and  to  devote  himself  to  the  more  ar- 
duous and  less  congenial  labors  of  his  profession  for  their 
benefit: 

LANCASTER,  OHIO,  28th  Nov'r,  1819. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

Being  entirely  alone,  I  can't  employ  my  time  better  than 
by  writing  to  you.  I  came  last  night  to  a  little  town  called 
Tarleton,  1 5  miles  from  here,  and  there  expected  to  stay  all 
day,  as  the  stage  does  not  travel  on  Sunday ;  but  being  very 
lonesome,  I  could  not  bear  the  idea  of  staying  a  whole  day 
in  such  a  place  by  myself — I  therefore  employed  the  driver  to 
bring  me  on  here.  We  started  about  12  o'clock  and  got  here 
about  4  I  have  travelled  this  far  without  company,  and 
without  seeing  a  human  face  that  I  ever  saw  before,  since  I 
left  Stephen  at  Lexington.  The  trip  is  of  course  very  disa- 
greeable. I  am  here  now  alone,  about  dark,  and  the  weather 
is  getting  very  bad.  It  snowed  all  day  to-day,  and  will  rain 
very  hard  I  fear  to-night.  It  is  the  most  dismal  night  to  me 
that  I  ever  saw.  I  need  not  disguise  from  you  that  I  am 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  135 

completely  miserable.  I  never  was  as  unhappy  in  my  life. 
I  can  think  of  nothing  but  you  and  the  children.  I  have  eat 
very  little  since  I  left  home,  and  have  not  had  one  hour's 
good  sleep — some  nights  I  have  not  slept  at  all.  But,  in 
other  respects,  I  am  in  good  health. 

I  expect  to  get  company  at  Zanesville,  where  I  will  stay 
to-morrow  night,  and  hope  to  be  able  to  get  to  my  journey's 
.end  on  next  Saturday  or  Sunday. 

It  is  just  ten  years  to-night  since  we  were  married,  and  it 
-was  about  this  time  in  the  evening.  This  reflection,  as  well 
:as  every  thing  else  I  can  think  about  or  see,  tends  to  increase 
my  anxiety. 

I  never  will  leave  you  again  as  long  as  we  live.  I  will  be 
at  home  as  soon  as  I  promised,  or  sooner,  and  intend  then  to 
stay  with  my  family.  I  cannot  be  happy  or  contented  one 
moment  any  where  else. 

I  am  very  anxious  to  see  the  children  already,  and  partic- 
ularly Charlotte.  I  do  not  think  I  can  stay  from  her.  Take 
good  care  of  them  all,  and  of  yourself,  and  be  as  happy  as 
possible,  and  live  as  well  as  you  can  desire,  without  regard- 
ing the  expence. 

If  Darwin's  horse  can  not  be  sold  he  ought  to  be  sent 
home.  He  is  not  worth  wintering.  Give  my  compliments 
to  Sally  and  tell  her  to  stay  with  you  day  and  night,  and  she 
shall  never  regret  it.  If  I  could  think  you  were  contented, 
I  could  go  along  pretty  well,  doleful  as  is  my  situation ;  but 
the  idea  that  you  are  unhappy  almost  distracts  me. 

Elijah  Hyatt  promised  me  to  keep  you  in  flour,  and  he  is 
to  let  you  have  some  pork.  What  you  get  of  him,  with 
what  you  may  kill,  if  Archy  attends  to  our  hogs,  will  be  suffi- 
cient. A  man  by  the  name  of  Cook  is  to  let  you  have  one 
hog — and  if  you  want  beef,  Ben.  Bryant  will  furnish  you. 

If  you  should  want  money,  call  on  Mr.  George,  and  if  he 
has  none,  get  what  you  want  of  Joe  Letcher. 

After  I  get  in,  I  shall  write  to  you  every  day.  Oh,  how 
happy  would  I  be,  and  how  different  my  situation,  if,  instead 


136  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

of  Lancaster,  Ohio,  I  was  in  Lancaster,  Kentucky,  with  little 
Charlotte  on  my  knee !      But  the  time  shall,   I  hope,   not  be 
long  before  I  shall  make  this  exchange. 
Give  my  love  to  the  children.      Farewell. 

To  his  eldest  daughter,  when  eight  years  of  age,  in  answer 
to  the  first  letter  she  ever  wrote : 

WASHINGTON  CITY,  I5th  December,   1819. 
My  Dear  Dauglitcr: 

It  was  with  great  pleasure  that  I  received  a  letter  from 
you  this  morning.  I  hope  it  will  not  be  the  last  which  I  shall 
receive  from  you  during  the  winter.  I  am  very  much 
obliged  to  you  for  this  your  first  letter.  1  would  advise  you 
to  stay  at  home  this  winter  with  your  mother,  and  learn  to 
knit,  and  improve  your  education  by  attending  occasionally 
to  your  books  and  writing.  Stay  in  the  house  and  be  a 
good  girl;  don't  run  about  with  the  little  girls  of  the  town 
they  will  teach  you  bad  habits  and  make  you  a  bad  girl. 
If  you  do  as  I  advise  you,  I  will  make  you  some  very  hand- 
some presents  when  I  return,  and  you  may  go  to  see  your 
grandma  in  the  spring. 

Tell  Ellen  I  wish  her  to  stay  at  home,  and  be  a  good  girl 
and  learn  her  book,  and  you  must  teach  Mary  her  A  B  C's. 

I  had  very  good  weather  during  my  journey,    and  am   in 
good   health.       Give  my  love  to  the  children,    and   be  very 
good,  and  kind,  and  attentive  to  little  Charlotte. 
Your  affectionate  father, 

GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

His  love  of  his  home  did  not  render  him  selfish  or  exclu- 
sive, or  less  willing  to  assist  others.  His  opinion  of  people 
generally  was  too  favorable,  and  his  regard  for  their  welfare 
too  unselfish  for  his  own  good.  His  very  failings,  as  has 
been  before  said,  leaned  to  virtue's  side. 

Although  he  had  mingled  long  in  many  relations,  and 
under  various  circumstances  with  people  of  every  grade ! 
although  he  was  guarded  and  never  known  to  be  entrapped 


LIFE    OK    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  137 

when  managing  the  affairs  of  others,  still  he  did  not  seem  to 
suspect  any  body  of  improper  motives,  when  his  own  inter- 
ests were  concerned,  and  was  not  particularly  careful  of  his 
own  property.  Confiding  in  his  knowledge  of  men  and  his 
discreet  management  of  his  own  concerns,  like  the  good 
Vicar,  in  his  favorite  novel,  Goldsmith's  immortal  story,  he 
was  sometimes  caught  by  the  "cosmogony"  of  a  rascally  Mr. 
Jenkinson.  He  would  entrust  his  own  business  to  persons 
deficient  in  discretion — when  in  straitened  circumstances 
himself,  he  would  indulge  or  release,  his  creditors,  and  could 
not  always,  perhaps  not  often,  resist  opportunities  to  assist  or 
endorse  for  those  who  either  would  not  or  could  not,  save 
him  harmless.  He  would  descant  on  the  virtues  of  careful- 
ness and  leave  his  purse  on  a  market-stall,  and  deposit  his 
quarter's  salary  among  loose  papers,  or  drop  it  in  the  high- 
way. He  would  dwell  on  the  impracticability  of  pocket 
picking,  and  the  same  day  his  own  pocket  would  be  picked. 
He  thought  it  was  easy  to  make  profitable  speculations — his 
own  investments  were  rarely  remunerative,  and  often  a  source 
of  loss. 

Money  he  could  and  did  make  rapidly  at  his  profession, 
and  when  made,  expended  but  little  of  it  for  himself.  Self- 
denial,  long  a  necessity,  had  become  a  habit,  and  he  only 
thought  of  himself  after  he  had  provided  for  the  wants  of 
others.  He  was  particular  as  to  small  sums,  because  it  was 
by  their  accumulation  that  he  accomplished  his  determination 
to  acquire  a  reasonable  competency.  ' '  Too  low  for  envy,  for 
contempt  too  high,"  without  which  h~  thought  with  Junius, 
it  was  hard  for  a  man  to  be  either  independent  or  honest,  he 
was  less  regardful  of  large  ones,  possibly  because  when  his 
character  was  forming,  these  had  been  too  scarce  to  enable 
him  to  form  any  habit  as  to  them.  If  he  who  discovered  the 
mechanism  of  the  heavens  forgot  that  the  kitten  could  pass 
through  the  same  hole  in  the  floor  that  admitted  the  cat  and 
caused  a  smaller  opening  to  be  made,  it  is  not  strange  if  an- 
other occupied  mind  should  not  always  remember  that  a  large 


138  I-1FE    OF    GKOKGE    ROP^RTSON. 

sum  is  made  up  of  many  small  ones.  He  lived  well  and 
bountifully  for  one  of  his  means,  and  kept  open  house,  and 
referred  to  the  example  of  Cicero  and  the  advice  of  Polon- 
ius  to  prove  tint  a  mm  should  maintain  an  anp  arance 
corresponding  with  his  estate  and  his  station.  He  also  gave 
liberally  to  his  children,  needy  friends,  to  charity,  and  to 
public  enterprises.  If  his  domestic  affections  were  the  source 
of  his  highest,  purest,  and  most  constant  enjoyments,  they 
were  also  the  fountain  of  his  deepest  afflictions,  and  his  un- 
utterable and  long  contjnued  grief,  as  more  than  half  his 
children  and  his  wife  faded  from  his  sight,  affords  proof  con- 
clusive of  the  strength  of  his  affections.  He  has  recounted 
at  length  his  feelings  when  his  latest  born,  the  little  Benjamin 
of  his  declining  years,  was  taken  from  him.  and  in  his  pub 
lished  writings  may  be  found  at  length  his  views  of  the 
manliness  of  a  man's  sorro\\  for  the  dead. 

The  loss  of  his  favorite  child  cast  a  shade  over  all  his  after 
life.  If'his  grief  was  a  weakness,  it  has  been  a  weakness  of 
all  the  better  portions  of  mankind :  of  the  Christian,  who 
looks  forward  to  a  reunion  amid  happier  scenes,  and  of  the 
doubter,  who  sees  in  the  dust  of  mortality  the  end  of  ex- 
istence; of  the  feeble  and  the  strong,  of  the  helpless  widow, 
and  of  David,  of  Cicero,  and  of  Burke.  The  latter,  alluding 
to  his  deceased  son,  says :  "The  storm  has  gone  over  me,  and 
I  lie  like  one  of  those  old  oaks,  which  the  late  hurricane  has 
scattered  about  me.  I  am  stripped  of  all  my  honors ;  I  am 
torn  up  by  the  roots,  and  lie  prostrate  on  the  earth !  There, 
and  prostrate  there,  I  most  unfeignedly  recognize  the  Divine 
justice,  and  in  some  degree  submit  to  it.  *  *  *  I  live 
in  an  inverted  order.  They  who  ought  to  have  succeeded 
me,  are  gone  before  me.  They  who  should  have  been  to 
me  as  posterity,  are  in  the  place  of  ancestors. " 

And  how  tender  is  Evelyn's  lament  for  his  departed  Mary: 
"Oh,  dear,  sweet,  and  desirable  child!  how  shall  I  part  with 
all  this  goodness  and  virtue  without  the  bitterness  of  sorrow 
and  reluctancy  of  a  tender  parent?  Thy  affection,  duty,  and 


LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  139 

love  to  me  was  that  of  a  friend  as  well  as  a  child ;  and  thy 
mother!  oh,  how  she  mourns  thy  loss!  how  desolate  hast 
thou  left  us  !  To  the  grave  shall  we  both  carry  thy  memory. " 

No  words  can  express  grief  more  profound  than  David's 
exclamation  :  "O,  my  son  !  would  God  I  had  died  for  thee!" 

Again,  when  his  wife,  who  had  nestled  by  his  side,  in  sun- 
shine and  shade,  for  fifty  five  years,  turned  to  him  her  last  look 
and  her  last  thought,  and  left  him  to  finish  his  journey  alone, 
he,  though  less  given  than  most  men  to  betray  his  feelings, 
sunk  beside  the  bed  of  death,  pouring  forth  a  prayer  such  as 
can  only  be  wrung  from  a  prostrate  soul,  when  deep  calleth 
unto  deep,  and  all  the  waves  and  billows  of  sorrow  have 
passed  over  it.  Nearly  a  year  after  his  wife's  death  he  wrote 
this  letter: 

LEXINGTON,    ist  January,    1867. 
My  Dear  Daughter  and  first  child  : 

I  received,  with  grateful  emotions,  stronger  than  I  can 
express,  your  very  affectionate  salutations  on  the  advent  of 
another  Christmas,  and  your  prayers  for  my  health  and  hap- 
piness. I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  assure  you  that  my  health 
is  perfect,  and  that  I  feel  younger  at  76  years  of  age  than  I 
did  at  66.  But  as  to  happiness,  I  neither  enjoy  nor  expect 
any  of  that  blessing  on  earth.  I  am  desolate  and  hopeless ; 
all  my  philosophy  and  manhood  fail  to  make  me  contented, 
or  even  cheerful.  All  that  I  see  around  me  reminds  me  of  the 
ruins  of  Time,  and  overwhelms  my  sad  heart  with  memories 
of  departed  joys  and  buried  friends.  Ardent  and  incessant 
employment  is  my  only  relief,  and  now  another  year  has 
dawned  in  gloom  to  your  old  and  isolated  father,  whose 
only  comfort  is  in  the  love  and  harmony  of  his  posterity. 

This  is  peculiarly  a  suggestive  day  dawning  over  the  grave 
of  the  old  year  and  all  that  is  gone.  It  inaugurates  a  new 
year,  on  the  events  of  which  our  destiny  may  hang;  and  for 
myself,  whatever  it  may  unfold,  of  weal  or  of  woe,  to  me  or 
mine,  I  consecrate  it,  by  sober  contemplations,  on  the  past, 
the  present,  and  the  frequent  future,  and  by  a  sacramental 


I4O  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


vow  at  your  mother's  shrine,  to  do  all  that  in  me  lies  to  im- 
prove the  coming  year,  by  doing  better  and  living  better 
than  ever  before.  Will  you  and  your  household  join  me  in 
this  hallowing  resolve  ? 

I  deeply  sympathize  with  you  in  all  that  affects  your  hap- 
piness, and  for  Mr.  Buford  I  especially  feel  great  concern. 
I  would  visit  him  often,  but  my  official  and  domestic  duties 
leave  me  scarcely  an  hour  of  liberty  or  pleasure. 

I  would  have  been  delighted  to  repeat  my  affectionate  testi- 
mony to  all  my  children  and  grandchildren,  by  appreciable 
offerings  to  each  of  them,  but  could  not  thus  remember  one 
and  forget  others  of  them.  Circumstances  were  as  such 
could  not  make  useful  presents  to  all.  But  I,  nevertheless, 
am  unwilling  to  answer  your  kind  letter  by  words  only,  and 
therefore,  not  knowing  anything  better,  enclose  you  a  sum 
of  money  as  a  poor  testimony  of  my  paternal  regard.  May 
God  bless  you  and  all  your  household. 

Your  devoted  father, 

G.   ROBERTSON. 

Under  afflictions  like  these,  he  drew  very  little  consolation 
from  philosophy.  He  found  its  whole  sum  in  the  beautiful 
but  cheerless  letter  of  Serv,  Sulpicius  to  Cicero,  on  the  death 
of  Tullia,  which  commends  submission  to  fate,  because  it  is 
inevitable.  He  derived  more  from  religion,  which  demands 
resignation  to  the  will  of  God,  because  he  is  wise  and  good. 
But  he  felt  that  religion,  even  after  its  own  verity  is  accepted, 
leaves  us  in  doubt  whether  we  shall  ever  again  see  our  de- 
parted friends,  or  know  them  if  we  do.  Perhaps  the  healing 
influence  of  time  and  occupation  afforded  him  most  relief. 
After  all,  long  watching  by  the  beds  of  the  suffering  and  the 
dying  saved  him  from  many  disappointments,  by  moderating 
his  desires  and  teaching  him  the  vanity  of  most  of  the  objects 
of  human  ambition. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE  .ROBERTSON.  14! 


F. 

HIS  GENERAL  INFORMATION. 

He  devoted  far  more  of  his  time  to  reflection  and  observa- 
tion  than  to  reading.      Still,   considering  his  opportunities, 
and    the    urgent    demands    of   his    exacting    profession,    his 
knowledge  of  books  was  remarkable.      In  early  life  he  proba- 
bly had  access  to  as  many  books  as  he  could  use  to  advantage 
— they  were  more  select  that  numerous.      He  was  thus  pro- 
tected against  the  seductions  of  a  miscellaneous  collection, 
and  mastered    those  that   he  read.      By    the    time    he   was 
twenty-five  years  old,   he  had  accumulated  all  the  volumes 
that  his   occasions  or  curiosity  required.       His  library  con- 
tained the  best  works  on  philosophy  and  criticism ;  a  good 
collection  of  English  poetry  and  early  periodical  literature ; 
the  best  of  the   English   novels,  prior  to  the  time  of  Scott, 
and  works  of  the  best  English  dramatists ;    fine  editions  of 
choice    translations    of    the    Greek    and    Roman    epic    and 
dramatic  poets  and  historians ;    popular  treatises  on  all  the 
sciences ;     standard    works    on   divinity ;     theoretical    disqui- 
sitions   on    government ;     histories,   general    and    particular, 
of  nations  and  of  philosophy,  and  biographies  and  memoirs 
of  the  intrigues  of  courts    and  of   parties;    the  writings  of 
Smith,    Ricardo,    and    others    on    political    economy,    up    to 
the    time    when    he    resigned    his    seat    in     Congress.      He 
had    but    few    books    of    reference,    and  relied    on   his  own 
stores   of  knowledge  and  information  at    first  hand,    for  his 
facts.      He  had   read   these    books  with  attention.      His  ac- 
quaintance   with  universal    history,   including  the  course  of 
both  human  action  and  of  thought    was  respectable.       His 
knowledge  of  the  history  of  particular  periods,  and  especially 
of  the  time  of  Pericles  and  of  Cicero,  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
of  the  Protestant  reformation,  and  of  the  English  revolution 
of  eighty-eight,  was  excellent.      He  read  with  avidity  every 
accessible    authority    relating    to    the    social    and    political 


142  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

condition  of  America.  He  was  personally  familiar  with  the 
whole  annals  of  Kentucky,  and  had  studied  the  biographies 
of  the  great  judges.  His  inquiries  into  the  origin  and  destiny 
of  man  led  him  to  explore  the  facts  of  geology,  and  the  met- 
aphysical and  conflicting  speculations  of  theologians  and 
philosophers,  and  the  evidence  for  and  against  Christianity. 
These  studies  became  so  engrossing  as  to  exclude  all  others, 
except  law,  during  the  last  decade  of  his  life. 


G. 
THE  POLITICIAN. 

The  bent  of  his  active  mind  made  him  take  a  lively  pleas- 
ure in  the  study  of  the  science  of  government.  That  tlu->e 
studies  were  crowned  with  a  large  measure  of  SIR 
abundant  proof  yet  remains,  and  his  public  and  private 
declarations  and  his  conduct  evince  that  he  subordinated 
his  desire  for  place,  immeasurably,  below  his  love  of  prin- 
ciple. Those  who  knew  him  intimately  will  believe  that  he 
expressed  his  unalterable  sentiments,  in  the  conclusion  of  a 
speech  of  great  power  against  the  bill  to  reorganize  the 
Court  of  Appeals,  in  these  words:  "Mr.  Speaker — I  have 
taken  my  passage  in  this  vessel  (meaning  the  Constitution); 
my  wife  and  children  are  on  board.  I  will  cling  to  her  as 
long  as  she  floats;  and  should  she  sink,  I  will  seize  her  last 
plank  as  my  best  hope ! 

"In  the  humble  part  which  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  bear 
in  this  great  question,  I  expect  not  victory,  I  solicit  not  ap- 
plause. My  only  wish  is  that  I  may  promote  the  welfare  of 
the  country  that  gave  me  birth,  and  entitle  myself  to  the 
reputation  of  an  honest  man.  I  fear  not  responsibility  — 
Heaven  made  me  free,  and  I  will  not  make  myself  a  slave. 
I  have  not  consulted  men  in  power.  Although  not  one  drop 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  143 

of  patrician  blood  runs  in  my  veins,  I  am  entitled  to  the 
humble  privilege  of  obeying  the  dictates  of  my  own  con- 
science, and  of  fearlessly  uttering  my  opinions.  And  I  shall 
deem  it  one  of  the  most  fortunate  incidents  of  my  life  that 
I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  protesting  against  this  ruinous 
and  violent  act,  and  of  transmitting  to  my  posterity,  on  the 
record,  a  memorial  of  my  opposition  to  it.  *  *  *  *  * 
As  for  me,  I  prefer  the  approbation  of  a  sound  conscience, 
even  in  obscurity,  to  the  proudest  station  purchased  at  so 
dear  a  price ;  with  this,  the  humblest  station  cannot  make 
me  miserable ;  without  it,  the  most  exalted  could  not  make 
me  happy." 

To  Milton's  question — 

"Canst  thou  not  remember 
Quinctius,  Fabricius,  Curius,  Regulus?" 

he  could  have  replied :    From  boyhood  have  I  known  them 
all. 

As  the  people  who  handed  down  these  matchless  stories 
must  have  practiced  the  virtues  which  they  admired,  so  now, 
it  is  impossible  to  be  thoroughly  pervaded  with  the  spirit  of 
these  traditions  without  exhibiting  their  influence  in  conduct. 

Although  he  held  but  few  political  offices,  and  those  for 
but  a  short  time,  and  while  upon  the  bench  carefully  lifted 
the  judicial  ermine  above  the  mire  of  parties,  he  was  a  more 
active  and  efficient  politician  than  many  who  have  devoted 
their  undivided  time  to  public  affairs,  and  who  have  obtained 
far  greater  distinction  than  ever  lell  to  him.  A  vigilant  and 
attentive  observer  of  men  and  measures,  he  discussed  from 
the  platform  and  through  the  press  most  of  the  great  public 
questions  which  were  agitated  during  his  times.  This  is  at- 
tested by  his  various  published  addresses,  and  by  his  letters 
and  pamphlets  on  theory  of  popular  government,  on  the  re- 
lief laws,  on  the  tariff,  on  the  Missouri  compromise  and 
squatter  sovereignty,  on  common  schools,  on  the  American 
policy  against  the  new  Constitution,  against  an  elective  ju- 
diciary, on  nullification  and  secession,  on  the  doctrine  of 


144  L1FE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

popular  instructions,  on    slavery  and  emancipation,    and   on 
many  other  topics. 

These  publications  have  a  grasp  and  power,  and  show  an 
amount  of  information  far  greater  than  can  be  found  in  the 
fleeting  productions  of  the  ordinary  politician.  They  have 
much  of  the  philosophic  breadth,  of  the  writings  of  Hamilton, 
and  the  disquisitions  of  Burke,  and  contain,  or  foreshadow, 
nearly  all  those  valuable  truths  for  which  the  subsequent 
works  of  Mill  on  government,  and  De  Toqueville  on  democ- 
racy, are  prized.  This  could  be  shown  by  a  comparison  of 
their  respective  writings,  and  the  coincidence  is  noticed,  as 
an  example,  that  able  minds  think  alike.  He  says  of  him- 
self: "My  public  life  has  been  short  and  humble;  it 
furnishes  no  incidents  to  flatter  pride  or  gratify  ambition." 

Several  probable  reasons  might  be  suggested   why  he  was 
not  a  more  conspicuous  politician  : 

1.  The  urgent  demands  of  a  growing  family  compelled 
him  to  retire  from  the  pursuit  when  in  the  high   n>a.l  to  >uc- 
cess. 

2.  He  never  hesitated  to  advocate  what,  upon  mature  de~ 
liberation,  he  considered  right  and  expedient,  or  to  oppose  any 
proposition  which  he  considered  wrong  or  false.    His  writings, 
his  teachings,  his  conduct  showed  that  he  preferred  to  suffer 
for  doing  right  rather  tlrin  to  be  rewarded  for  doing  wrong. 
They  declare  his  conviction,  that  the  price  of  every  good  is 
a  conflict  in  which  every  combatant  must  take  the  risk  of 
defeat,  of  neglect,  of  obloquy  ;  and  his  belief  that  the  history 
of  those   who  have   fought   and  lost,  if  it  could  be  written, 
would  be  a  nobler  epic   than  the  story  of  those  who  have 
won.      Nor  did  he  believe  in  the  right  of  any  competent  citi 
zen  to  shirk  the  battle  in  which  he   was  interested.      In  his 
view,  the  difference  between  the  man   who  slunk  from,  and 
him  who  faced,  responsibility,  who  did  the  act,  and  who  per- 
mitted it  to  be  done,  was,  if  the  act  were  right,  that  the  one- 
was  brave  and  truthful,  the  other  a  coward,  who  adhered  not 
to  the  right  but  the  winning  side ;  if  the  act  were  wrong,  that 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  145 

the  one  played  the  part  of  a  robber,  the  other  of  a  thief,  or 
an  assassin. 

In  becoming  a  politician,  he  squarely  accepted  these  issues. 
He  constantly  and  openly  avowed  his  opposition  to  the  doc- 
trine of  popular  instructions,  and  his  unwillingness  to  hold  an 
office  that  fettered  his  judgment  and  constrained  his  con- 
science. 

Recognizing  the  natural  and  established  right  of  the  ma- 
jority to  govern,  with  bold  and  incisive  words  he  defended 
and  expounded  the  constitutional  barriers  to  its  dominion. 
As  allowing  an  appeal  from  the  impulse  of  a  mob  to  the 
second  thoughts  of  the  individuals  composing  it,  he  demon- 
strated that,  without  sleepless  restraint,  its  sway  might  be 
more  fearful  than  that  of  the  worst  central  tyranny ;  not  only 
because  of  its  divided  responsibility,  but  because  its  eyes 
and  its  hands,  being  in  every  place,  no  disguise  can  escape 
its  vigilance,  no  fleetness  its  pursuit.  That  its  power  and  its 
penalties  might  combine  the  despotism  of  kings,  of  priests, 
and  of  classes,  destroying  liberty  and  life  like  the  first,  chain- 
ing the  thoughts  and  conscience,  and  destroying  the  soul  like 
the  second,  and  interdicting  the  .expression  of  opinions,  ex- 
communicating from  socfety  and  making  its  victim  a  pariah 
or  an  exile  like  the  third.  Fearful  of  indiscriminate  suffrage, 
and  believing  that  the  pioneers  who  had  borne  the  heat  and 
burden  of  the  day,  in  subduing  and  improving  the  country, 
had  earned  the  title  to  secure  the  blessings  they  had  won, 
he  insisted  that  Americans  should^govern  America.  Relief 
laws  rushing  in,  the  tide  of  bankruptcy  swept  the  State 
like  a  torrent.  Young,  obscure,  poor,  and  alone,  he 
threw  himself  into  the  flood  and  breasted  it.  If  not  in  favor 
of  the  immediate  emancipation  of  slaves,  he  was  opposed  to 
their  increase,  and  when  the  majority  were  phrenzied  on  the 
question,  he  urged  the  re-enactment  of 'a  law  interdicting 
their  importation  into  Kentucky,  and  in  this  way  lost  all 
future  prospect  of  promotion.  ThoughTa  southern  man  by 
birth,  alliance,  and  sympathy,  he  published  elaborate  argu- 
9 


146  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

merits  against  the  doctrine  of  Nullification,  the  Virginia  and 
Kentucky  resolutions  of  '98  and  '99,  and  the  right  and  expe- 
diency of  secession. 

He  might  have  said  (in  fact,  often  has  said),  with  Burke. 
"I  was  not  swaddled,  and  dandled,  and  rocked  into  a  legis- 
lator— nitor  in  advcrsuin  is  the  m'otto  for  a  man  like  me.  I 
possessed  not  one  of  the  qualities,  nor  cultivated  one  of  the 
arts  that  recommend  to  the  favor  and  protection  of  the  great. 
I  was  not  made  for  a  minion  or  tool.  As  little  did  I  follow 
the  trade  of  winning  the  hearts  by  imposing  on  tin  under- 
standings of  the  people.  At  every  step  of  my  progress  in 
life  (for  in  every  step  was  I  traversed  and  opposed),  and  at 
every  turnpike  I  met  I  was  obliged  to  show  my  passport,  and 
again  and  again  to  prove  my  sole  title  to  the  honor  of  being 
useful  to  my  country,  by  a  proof  that  I  was  not  wholly  un- 
acquainted with  its  laws.  I  had  no  arts  but  manly  arts.  On 
them  I  have  stood,  and  please  God  to  the  last  gasp,  will  I 
stand." 

Not  a  few  nor  unobservant  men  believe  that  the  holding 
of  a  public  office  has  long  ceased  to  be  any  evidence  of  merit, 
either  because  according  to  the  famous  line  which  cost  Nae- 
vius  his  liberty,  "  Fato  Mctclli  fiunt  Rotmc  consulcs"  which 
may  be  paraphrased,  destiny  alone  confers  honors  in  America; 
or,  because  public  virtue  has  reached  that  stage  of  decline 
in  which  Dryden  says  nothing  goes  unrewarded  but  desert ; 
or,  in  the  defiant  words  of  that  invulnerable  political  paladin, 
who  hissed  so  many  bitter  charges  and  challenges  through 
the  bars  of  his  visor,  in  which  trifles  float  and  are  preserved, 
while  every  thing  valuable  sinks  to  the  bottom  and  is  lost 
forever. 

\Yhen  C.  T.  Varro,  after  the  overwhelming  defeat  at  Can- 
nae, caused  by  his  own  misconduct,  doubtful  of  his  reception, 
had  drawn  near  Rome,  the  Senate  and  people  came  out  to 
meet  him  and  publicly  thanked  him — "For  that  he  had  not 
despaired  of  the  Republic."  Who  says  Republics  are  un- 
grateful? Not  the  successful  aspirant,  his  success,  whoever 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  147 

fails,  does  not  prove  it — to  him.  Not  the  C.  T.  Varros,  who 
every  day  are  rewarded  for  no  visible  merit,  if  not  "  For  that 
they  have  not  despaired  of  the  Republic,"  and  never  will 
so  long  as  there  are  places  to  fill  and  money  to  pay  for  hold- 
ing them. 

Our  republics  are  not  ungrateful,  if  they  sometimes -bestow 
their  gratitude  upon  the  wrong  men.  It  is  probably  because 
the  notion  has  been  gradually  and  generally  adopted,  that 
allegiance  to  a  party  is  the  highest  patriotism  and  the  most 
useful  talent,  and  a  few  managers,  looking  alone  to  their  own 
interests,  who  assume  to  represent  a  party,  are  permitted  to 
dictate  for  whom  the  masses  shall  cast  their  suffrages.  These 
men  are  the  designing  Rebeccas,  the  people  are  blind  Abra- 
hams, who  mistake  the  Jacobs  for  the  Esaus. 

If  Judge  Robertson's  hope  of  preferment  was  ever  disap- 
pointed, his  chagrin  soon  passed  away,  and  he  spoke  well  of, 
and  felt  not  unkindly  towards,  those  who  had  opposed  him. 
He  may  have  been  ambitious,  but  was  too  tall  for  envy ;  too 
masculine  and  too  busy  to  be  a  gossip;  too  self-respecting 
and  generous  to  be  a  detractor.  Besides,  while  he  was  still 
in  a  green  and  hale  old  age,  he  had  lived  long  enough  to 
know  the  vanity  of  human  aspirations,  and  the  degrading 
littleness  of  jealousy,  at  the  advancement  of  others.  If  he 
did  not,  like  England's  gifted  son,  stand  amid  the  crowded 
monuments  and  fading  hatchments  of  another  Westminster 
Abbey,  and  feel  every  emotion  of  rivalry  die  within  him,  he 
did  stand  in  the  midst  of  a  far  more  affecting  and  pitiable 
scene.  Around  him  were  the  scattered,  obscure,  and  neg- 
lected graves  of  all  the  most  successful  cotemporaries  of  his 
prime.  He  had  survived  them  all  A  new  generation  had 
sprung  up  that  worshiped  strange  gods,  who,  in  their  turn, 
were  soon  to  be  torn  from  their  shrines  and  be  forgotten. 

Reviewing  his  political  life  at  an  advanced  age,  he  says: 
"My  public  life  has  been  short  and  humble;  it  furnishes  no 
incidents  to  flatter  pride  or  gratify  ambition.  If  in  the  stormy 
and  difficult  times  in  which  it  was  spent,  it  has  been  disinter- 


148  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

ested,  firm  and  straight  forward,    I  shall  have  fulfilled  in  its 
results  all  my  expectations,  and  have  deserved  as  much  com- 
mendation as  I  have  ever  desired.     If,  in  reviewing  it,  I  see 
nothing  to  be  vain  of,  or  to  extort  the  applause  or  admiration 
of  others,  I  see,  what  is  more  grateful  to  my  feelings,  that  it 
exhibits  nothing  of  which  I  am  ashamed,   or  of  which,   on 
mature  reflection,   I  repent.      But  while  I  recollect  no  act  of 
my  public  life  which  I  would  alter,    I  confess  that  I  ha\v, 
more  than  once,  done  that  which  I  regretted,  and  still  regret, 
being  compelled  to  do  by  convictions  of  public  duty.       In 
other  words,    my  votes    have   not  always    been    in   accord 
with  my  feelings.      Political  life,    however  humble  or  unam- 
bitious, is  beset  with  many  difficulties,  trials,  and  perplexities; 
it  is  the  crucible  of  merit,   the  ordeal  of  virtue  and  energy. 
He  who  expects  to  pass  through  unhurt  and  self  satisfied, 
and  wishes  to  be  able,  when  at  his  journeys'  end,    to  look 
back,  without  shame  or  remorse,  on  the  various  meunderings 
and  multiform  incidents  of  the  mazy  path  which  he  has  fol- 
lowed,   must  be  prepared  to  do  many  things  incompatible 
with  his  individual   interests,   and  repugnant  to  his  personal 
and  local  predilections.      He  must  expect  to  be  instructed  by 
the  suggestions  of  an  unbiased  judgment,    frequently  to  do 
that  which,  while  his  head  approves,   his  heart  abjures.      He 
must  be  prepared,  too,   to  smile  with  unmixed  contempt  at 
causeless  abuse,    and  to  see  his   popularity  in   ruins  without 
emotions  of  sorrow,    surprise,   or  resentment,   looking  in  tri- 
umph to  its  day  of  resurrection.      All  who  engage  in  political 
warfare  should   be  thus  shielded,    if  they  wish  to  avoid   ulti- 
mate discomfiture  and  disgrace.       A  firm   and   honest  man 
should  always   be  contented  under   the  consciousness,    if  he 
fail,  of  having  done  his  duty.       He  has  also  for  his  encour- 
agement an  assurance  from  the  testimony  of  all  experience, 
that  if,    in  the  storms  of  faction  or  momentary  popular  com- 
motion,   he  shall   be,    for  awhile,   overwhelmed,  and   lighter 
bodies  should    be  permitted,    for  a  moment,    to  mount  the 
bursting  wave,   the  sunshine  of  reason  and  the  calm  of  sober 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  149 

judgment  will  soon  return  and  find  him  on  a  proud  eminence 
high  above  those  ephemeral  favorites  who  could  vegetate  and 
flourish  only  in  the  beams  of  popular  favor,  and  cameleon- 
like,  live  by  snuffing  air — the  breath  of  popular  applause. 
No  wise  man  will  be  insensible  to  the  approbation  of  his 
fellow-men,  or  indifferent  about  obtaining  it ;  but  no  honest 
man  will  ever  attempt  to  obtain  it  in  any  other  way  than  by 
endeavoring  to  deserve  it.  The  popularity  which  is  gratify- 
ing to  an  honorable  and  elevated  mind,  is  not  that  evanescent 
capricious  thing  that  must  be  conciliated  by  caresses,  and 
purchased  by  dishonest  compliances,  but  that  high  and  con- 
stant sentiment  of  esteem  which  follows  virtuous  actions,  and 
is  their  best  reward,  next  to  the  approbation  of  a  sound  con- 
science, which  it  will,  sooner  or  later,  gratify  and  prosper. 

I  have  been  anxious  to  obtain  your  approbation,  but  more 
so  to  secure  that  of  my  own  conscience.  The  last  I  know  I 
enjoy — the  first  I  have  endeavored  to  deserve." 


H. 
THE  LAWYER. 

In  this  age  of  railroads  and  turnpikes,  of  comfortable  inns 
and  commodious  court-houses,  it  is  difficult  to  realize  the 
inconveniences,  toil,  and  exposure  to  which  the  lawyers  of 
an  earlier  day  were  subjected.  Then  it  was  necessary  to  go 
from  court  to  court;  the  circuits  were  large;  the  courts  far 
apart;  accommodations  at  hotels  wretched  in  quality  and 
small  in  quantity.  The  roads  never  good,  frequently  almost, 
and  sometimes  altogether,  impassable;  the  streams  uribridged ; 
ferries  few  and  fords  difficult ;  court-houses  small,  ill  venti- 
lated and  crowded ;  the  people  rough,  familiar,  always  calling 
a  man,  whatever  his  age  or  station,  by  his  Christian  name, 
noisy,  and  belligerent.  Mr.  Robertson  kept  two  or  three 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


saddle  horses,  the  best  he  could  procure.  Mounted  on  one 
of  them,  and  enveloped  in  a  drab  great  coat,  with  three  capes, 
shingling  him  to  the  waist,  and  with  skirts  reaching  to  his 
heels,  his  legs  encased  in  the  indispensable  green  baize  leg- 
gings, enormous  buckskin  gauntlets  on  his  hands,  and  with 
well-filled  saddle-bags,  he  would,  in  mid-winter,  with  defiant 
will,  intensified  by  necessity,  go  forth  in  storm  of  sleet  or 
rain,  through  mire  or  slush,  upon  the  circuit,  not  knowing 
how  long  he  would  be  deprived  of  the  comforts  of  home. 
These  journeys  were  often  protracted  far  into  the  night.  Re- 
gardful of  his  horse,  as  he  was  of  every  living  thing  over  which 
he  had  control,  he  was  still  compelled  to  be  a  hard  rider. 
When  he  ws  Judge,  he  would  accomplish  the  distance  from 
Frankfort  to  Lancaster,  about  57  miles,  when  the  broken 
road  was  at  its  worst,  without  leaving  the  saddle.  On  his 
return  from  courts,  he  almost  invariably  brought  presents  to 
his  wife  and  children.  These  were  often  in  packages  or 
bundles  so  large  or  numerous  as  to  subject  him  to  much  in- 
convenience, but  the  delight  he  afforded  the  '  '  expectant  wee 
things"  amply  ^repaid  him  for  his  trouble. 

He  undertook  the  practice  of  the  law  amid  circumstances 
which  threw  him  entirely  upon  his  own  efforts.  He  was  a 
boy,  incompetent  in  law  to  make  a  binding  agreement  for  his 
professional  services.  His  poverty  was  next  door  to  indi- 
gence, and  he  had  married  a  wife  whose  only  dowry  was  her 
beauty,  her  virtues,  her  cheerful  willingness  to  share  his  un- 
certain fortunes,  and  that  womanly  intuition  more  ready  and 
infallible  than  reason,  and  which  makes  a  discreet  wife  the 
wisest  and  safest  counsellor  of  her  husband. 

His  scholastic  training,  notwithstanding  his  rapid  insight 
and  faithful  memory,  had  been  too  hurried  and  too  brief. 
His  legal  knowledge  had  been  acquired  without  the  aid  of  an 
instructor,  and  the  law  was  then  far  more  difficult  and  per 
plexed  than  now,  and  law  books  less  perspicuous  than  those 
of  the  present  day.  The  bar  of  the  circuit  in  which  he  lived 
was  crowded  with  men,  who,  in  a  broader  and  more  elaborate 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


sphere,  would  have  become  widely  eminent,  and  would  have 
been  considered  able  jurists  and  persuasive  advocates  at  any 
bar  of  any  time.  Dockets  were  small,  fees  in  ordinary  cases 
were  slender,  great  cases  were  few,  and  all  cases  were  prose- 
cuted and  defended  with  the  utmost  pertinacity.  Mr. 
Robertson  was  small  and  slight  in  person,  his  health  not  ro- 
bust, his  disposition  retiring,  and  his  mind  reflective  rather 
than  objective.  He  lacked  those  charms  of  manner  and  voice 
which  fascinate  crowds  and  serve  to  adorn  superior  qualities 
•or  conceal  the  want  of  them. 

His  friends  had  greater  need  of  assistance  than  ability  to 
render  it.  Yet,  by  the  time  he  was  twenty-five  years  old,  he 
was  not  only  a  good  lawyer,  but  had  convinced  the  people  of 
that  fact,  and  had  obtained  a  business  second  in  amount  and 
grade  to  that  of  none  of  his  professional  brethren.  That  he 
was  then  a  good  lawyer  is  shown  by  the  fact  that,  although 
during  the  interval  between  that  time  and  the  date  of  his  ap 
pointment  to  the  Appellate  bench,  he  was  engrossed  with 
politics,  he  was  fully  qualified  to  discharge  his  judicial  duties, 
and  rendered  decisions  not  inferior  to  his  subsequent  ones. 
His  success  is  attributable  to  great  mental  power,  guided  by 
rectitude  and  impelled  by  indomitable  energy  —  energy  stim- 
ulated, but  not  created  by  necessity.  Weak  men  are  crushed, 
not  strengthened,  by  burdens.  Circumstances  are  the  occa- 
sion, not  the  causes,  of  power.  A  great  chancellor's  advice 
to  a  father,  who  consulted  him  as  to  the  best  means  to  make 
his  son  an  efficient  lawyer,  namely:  To  permit  him  to  spend 
his  patrimony  ;  marry  a  rich  wife  and  exhaust  her  estate, 
and  then,  under  stress  of  circumstances,  live  like  a  hermit  and 
work  like  a  horse,  would  not  produce  the  desired  result  in  the 
case  of  every  son. 

The  following  description,  which  Judge  Robertson  has 
given  of  the  discipline  and  qualities  of  another,  is  an  accurate 
statement  of  his  own  moral  and  mental  training: 

"Without  the  adventitious  influence  of  wealth,  or  family, 
or  accident,  and  without  any  of  the  artifices  of  vulgar  ambi- 


152 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


tion  or  selfish  pretension,  he  was,  as  soon  as  known,  honored 
with  the  universal  homage  of  that  kind  of  cordial  respect 
which  nothing  but  intrinsic  and- unobtrusive  merit  can  ever 
command,  and  which  alone  can  be  either  gratifying  or  hon- 
orable to  a  man  of  good  taste  and  elevated  mind.  It  was  his 
general  intelligence,  his  undoubted  probity,  his  child-like  can- 
dor, his  scrupulous  honor,  and  undeviating  rectitude,  which 
alone  extorted — what  neither  money,  nor  office,  nor  flattery, 
nor  duplicity,  can  ever  secure — the  sincere  esteem  of  all  who 
knew  him.  And  so  conspicuous  and  attractive  was  his  unos- 
tentatious worth,  that,  though  he  rather  shunned  than  courted 
official  distinction,  it  sought  him  and  called  him  from  his 
native  obscurity  and  the  cherished  privacy  of  domestic  enjoy- 
ment. His  education  was  unsophisticated  and  practical.  He 
learned  things  instead  of  names,  principles  of  moral  truth 
and  inductive  philosophy  instead  of  theoretic  systems  and 
scholastic  dogmatisms.  His  country  education  preserved 
and  fortified  all  his  useful  faculties,  physical  and  moral — his 
taste  was  never  perverted  by  false  fashion — his  purity  was 
never  contaminated  by  the  examples  or  seduce'd  by  the  temp- 
tations of  demoralizing  associations.  Blessed  with  a  robust 
constitution,  his  habitual  industry,  and  '  temperance  in  all 
things,'  preserved  his  organic  soundness  and  promoted  the 
health  and  vigor  of  his  body  and  his  mind.  What  he  knew 
to  be  right  he  always  practised — and  that  which  he  felt  to  be 
wrong  he  invariably  avoided.  In  his  pursuit  after  knowledge 
his  sole  objects  were  truth  and  utility.  In  his  social  inter- 
course he  was  chaste,  modest,  and  kind — and  all  his  conduct, 
public  and  private,  was  characterized  by  scrupulous  fidelity, 
impartial  justice,  and  an  enlightened  and  liberal  spirit  of 
philanthropy  and  beneficence.  Self-poised,  he  resolutely 
determined  that  his  destiny  should  depend  on  his  own  con- 
duct. Observant,  studious,  and  discriminating,  whatever  he 
acquired  from  books,  or  from  men.  he  made  his  own  by  ap- 
propriate cogitation  or  manipulation.  And  thus,  as  far  as  he 
went  in  the  career  of  knowledge,  he  reached,  as  if  per 
the  end  of  all  learning — practical  truth  and  utility. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  153 

"Panopiied  in  such  principles  and  habitudes,  his  merit 
could  not  be  concealed.  In  a  just  and  discerning  community, 
such  a  man  is  as  sure  of  honorable  fame  as  substance  is  of 
shadow  in  the  sun-light  of  day.  And  have  we  not  here  a 
striking  illustration  of  the  importance  of  right  education  and 
self-dependence?  Proper  education  is  that  kind  of  instruction 
and  discipline,  moral,  mental,  and  physical,  which  will  teach 
the  boy  what  he  should  do  and  what  he  should  shun,  when 
he  becomes  a  man,  and  prepare  him  to  do  well  whatever  an 
intelligent  and  upright  man  should  do  in  all  the  relations  of 
social  and  civil  life ;  and  any  system  of  education  which  ac- 
complishes either  more  or  less  than  this,  is  so  far  imperfect, 
or  preposterous  and  pernicious.  But,  after  all,  the  best 
schoolmasters  are  a  mediocrity  of  fortune,  and  a  country 
society  virtuous,  but  not  puritanical ;  religious,  but  not  fanat- 
ical; independent,  but  not  rich;  frugal,  but  not  penurious; 
free,  but  not  licentious — a  society  which  exemplifies  the 
harmony  and  value  of  industry  and  morality,  republican 
simplicity  and  practical  equality. 

"Reared  in  such  a  school,  and  practically  instructed  in  the 
elements  of  useful  knowledge,  a  man  of  good  capacity,  who 
enters  on  the  business  of  life  with  no  other  fortune  than  his 
own  faculties,  and  no  other  hope  than  his  own  honest  efforts, 
can  scarcely  fail  to  become  both  useful  and  great.  But  he 
who  embarks  destitute  of  such  tutelage,  or  freighted  with 
hereditary  honor  or  wealth,  is  in  imminent  danger  of  being 
wrecked  in  his  voyage.  Fortune  and  illustrious  lineage  are, 
but  too  often,  curses  rather  than  blessings.  The  industry 
and  self-denial,  which  are  indispensable  to  true  moral  and 
intellectual  greatness,  have  been  but  rarely  praticed  without 
the  lash  of  poverty,  or  the  incentive  of  total  self-independ- 
ence." 

Believing  that  the  true  end  of  litigation,  as  of  war,  is  peace, 
{pax  quaeritur  bello),  when  consulted  about  a  controversy,  he 
advised  a  settlement,  if  a  fair  compromise  could  be  effected, 
before  the  passions  of  the  parties  had  enlisted  them,  irretriev- 


154  LIFE    OF    GKOKGE    ROP'-KTSON. 

ably,  in  the  conflict.  If  this  could  not  be  done,  he  engaged, 
with  untiring  zeal,  in  the  service  of  his  client.  Indefatigable 
at  every  stage  of  the  contest,  his  ablest  exhibitions  were  his 
addresses  to  the  court. 

He  never  blazed  with  the  splendid  conflagration  of  Tully 
or  of  Curran,  nor  could  he  attack  with  the  insidious  and 
panther-like  approaches  of  Plunkett ;  he  had  not  the  com- 
manding presence  and  clarion  voice  of  Clay.  Several  of  his 
contemporaries  excelled  him  in  wit,  invective,  in  brilliant 
episodes,  and  in  stirring  declamation. 

Although  he  was  never  a  meteor,  corruscating  with  a  brill- 
iancy that  dazzles  and  blinds;  nor  "A  Hesperus  that  (with 
borrowed  splendor), led  the  starry  train" — his  light  was  more 
sustained  and  steady  than  the  flash  of  the  one,  and  unlike  the 
sheen  of  the  other;  it  was  native  as  well  as  reflected.  His 
purpose  was  not  to  shine,  but  to  win.  The  judgment  he 
sought  was,  not  that  he  was  a  great  man,  but  that  his  case 
was  a  good  one — too  plain  in  fact  to  require  any  skill  in  its 
management.  Keeping  himself  as  much  as  possible' out  of 
sight,  and  having  perfect  knowledge  of  the  ground  upon 
which  every  decisive  contest  must  be  made,  and  a  dialectic 
skill  that  was  never  at  a  loss  for  middle  terms,  he  assaulted 
with  great  force  and  apparent  confidence  one  or  more  weak 
(or,  if  there  were  none  such,  strong)  points  in  the  position  of 
his  adversary.  Whatever  side  he  was  on,  if  the  result  was 
doubtful,  he  boldly  assumed  the  aggressive,  in  order  to  keep 
his  opponent  employed  in  his  own  defense. 

Taking  no  notes  of  evidence,  and  relying  on  but  few  au- 
thorities, he  adduced  reasons  in  profuse  abundance,  and  none 
of  them  so  frivolous  as  not  to  be  plausible,  for  every  propo- 
sition that  he  affirmed,  and  he  responded  immediately  and 
forcibly  to  the  objections  and  authorities  of  the  opposite 
party.  He  freely  indulged  in  fallacies,  when  he  believed 
they  would  lead,  though  illogically,  to  a  just  judgment. 
Some  of  his  discussions  of  dry  propositions  of  law  were,  from 
their  clearness,  method,  and  ingenuity,  more  pleasing  to 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON*.  155 

cultivated  minds  than  the  most  finished  efforts  of  the  rheto- 
rician. 

His  discussions  of  facts  were  rapid,  bold,  often  vehement, 
ingenious,  and  always  plausible  in  bad  cases,  and  conclusive 
in  good  ones.  In  fact,  his  ardor,  grip,  and  resources  seemed 
to  increase  with  the  difficulties  which  opposed  him.  Most 
of  the  witnesses  of  the  exhaustless  readiness  and  persistence 
with  which  he  affirmed  premises  and  drew  inferences,  are 
dead.  Some  now  living  may  not  have  forgotten  how 

"  He  could  veer  and  tack  and  steer  a  cause 
Against  the  weather-guage  of  laws," 

as  shown  in  the  remarkable  contest  between  Mr.  Clay  and 
himself  over  the  instructions  in  an  action  against  the  client 
of  the  latter  for  selling  plated  bagging,  or  bagging  that  was 
of  better  quality  on  the  outside  of  the  bale  than  on  the  inside. 
The  argument  was  protracted  three  days,  and  exhausted  all 
that  could  be  said  for  and  against  the  proposition — custom 
makes  law. 

He  was  not  of  a  polemical  disposition,  and  was  not  fond  of 
the  practice  of  law.  This  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  he  re- 
mained so  long  upon  the  bench,  when,  with  less  labor,  he 
could  have  reaped  incalculably  greater  rewards  at  the  bar. 
He  disliked  the  personalities  of  the  bar,  and  preferred  to  ap- 
pear in  courts  of  equity  and  in  revisory  courts,  rather  than 
before  juries.  His  speeches  in  court  were  in  form  and  in 
matter  very  similar  to  his  written  opinions  as  a  Judge.  Both 
were  conceived  with  marvellous  rapidity  and  lucidly,  always 
accurately,  and  often  beautifully  expressed.  The  only  one  of 
his  addresses  to  the  jury  now  remaining,  is  his  speech  in 
defence  of  Dr.  Abner  Baker.  This  is  a  fair  specimen  of  his  re- 
sources. Some  of  his  regular  clients  were  those  against 
whom  he  had  been  employed,  and  who  had  felt  his  strength. 
Among  these  was  an  old  man  of  property,  who  having  no  fam- 
ily but  a  wife,  for  whom  he' had  a  great  aversion,  and  who  being 
determined  to  devise  his  estate  to  some  other  person,  impor- 
tunately besought  Mr.  Robertson  to  be  that  person ;  but  he 


156  LITE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

firmly  refused  to  accede  to  this  request,  on  the  ground  that 
his  honor  as  a  man  and  a  lawyer  would'not  permit  him  to  do 
so,  and  the  estate  was  finally  given  to  an  entire  stranger  to 
the  testator.  Mr.  Robertson,  though  gratified  at  his  self- 
denial  in  this  instance,  deplored  the  circumstances  that  made 
it  imperative. 

His  facility  was  very  great  as  a  special  pleader  and  convey- 
ancer.     Believing  the  science  of  pleading  to  be  the  logic  of 
the    common   la\v,    as    showing  what  was    necessary  to    be 
affirmed  and  proved,   he  directed  the  attention  of  his  pupils 
to  it  at  an  early  period  of  their  progn  --       All  instruments  of 
writing  drawn    by  him   are  distinguished    for  their  brevity, 
clearness,  and  accuracy.      He  knew  what  was  essential  in  the 
accepted   forms,    and  therefore  never  used  a   form   or  any 
superfluous  word,   although  its  employment  might  be  conse- 
crated by  immemorial  usage.     And  as  he  wrote  in  the  small 
and  compact,   but  legible  hand,  which  SOUK-  have  called  the 
Virginia  hand,  a  specimen  of  which  may  be  seen  in  the  man- 
uscripts of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  which  possibly  they  and  others 
derived  from  a  common  source,   namely,  Joshua  Fry.      His 
deeds  and  pleadings  were  contained  in  a  very  small  compass. 
As  a  conveyancer,  he  did  not  consider  it  necessary  for  his 
own  safety  or  that  of  his  client,  to  assume  an  attitude  directly 
hostile  to  every  title  which  he  was  called  to  examine.       He 
knew,  as  Dr.  Johnson  has  said,  that  there  were  objections  to 
a  plenum  and  also  to  a  vacuum,    but  that  one  or  the  other 
was  true,  and  that  extraordinary  ingenuity  or  ordinary  igno- 
rance might  raise  objections  to  the  best  title.      Therefore, 
holding  that  it  was  as  culpable  and  as  hazardous  to  cast  sus- 
picions on  a  good  claim  as  it  was  to  misrepresent  a  bad  one, 
he  sought  not,   through  excess  of  caution,  to  defeat,   but  de- 
sired rather  to  uphold  the  transfers  of  property  that  had  been 
in  good  faith  acquiesced  in.      His  investigations  were  careful, 
his  interpretations  liberal,   and  while  in  his  professional  capa- 
city,    he   caused    little   or  no   interruption    to   the   business 
transactions  of  the  country,    no  complaint  was  ever  made 
against  him  for  wrong  advice  or  for  mal-practice. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  157 

He  was  in  no  sense  a  timid  lawyer.  If  he  had  not  had 
strong  confidence  in  his  ability  to  advise  and  to  act,  his  sense 
of  duty  would  have  compelled  him  to  retire  from  the  bar. 
When  he  came  to  the  bar,  and  for  long  afterwards,  the  dis- 
tinction between  professional  opposition  and  personal  hostility 
was  exceedingly  obscure.  Still,  though  one  of  the  most 
peaceable  and  courteous  of  men,  he  never  hesitated,  from 
regard  for  the  consequences  to  himself,  because  the  opposite 
party  was  powerful  or  dangerous,  or  his  attorney  was  a 
ruffian,  to  undertake  a  case,  or  denounce  a  wrong;  and  when 
dispatch  was  urgent,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  sheriff  was 
doubtful,  he  has  been  known  to  go  with  him  and  recapture 
property  illegally  taken. 

He  was  fashioned  on  too  large  a  scale  to  be  a  mere  lawyer, 
and  often  spoke  of  the  intimate  relations  of  various  knowl- 
edges, and  illustrated  the  quaint  saying,  that  the  sparks  of 
all  the  sciences  are  raked  up  in  the  ashes  of  the  law.  Nor 
was  he  content  to  explore  one  system  of  Jaw.  Among  the 
first  books  he  ever  owned  are  a  Latin  copy  of  Justinian's 
Institutes,  Pothier  on  Obligations,  and  Vattell's  Law  of  Na- 
tions. Many  of  his  terms,  illustrations,  and  reasons  are 
drawn  from  the  civil  law.  He  placed  a  high  estimate  upon 
Comyn's  Digest,  the  writings  of  Pothier,  and  the  English 
ecclesiastical  reports.  The  latter,  according  to  his  judgment, 
contained  some  of  the  finest  models  of  judicial  style.  Not 
inconsistent  with  his  regard  for  general  knowledge,  he  thought 
that  a  large  collection  of  law  books  was  apt  to  embarrass  and 
enfeeble,  and  his  own  library  was  more  select  than  numerous. 
He  trusted  more  to  rumination  than  to  reading,  and  the 
"cave  cancni,"  to  which  he  sometimes  pointed  his  pupils, 
in  the  atrium  of  the  law,  was  the  maxim,  "Beware  the  man 
of  one  book." 

THE    TEACHER    OF    LAW. 

No  one  can  be  a  first  rate  lawyer  who  does  not  maintain  a 
clear  knowledge  of  elementary  principles,  which  consist 
chiefly  of  definitions  and  propositions,  which  denote  the  divis- 


158  LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


ions,  classes,  or  combinations  into  which  rules  of  law  have 
been  or  may  be  artanged.  It  was  by  teaching  that  Judge 
Robertson  refreshed  and  constantly  extended  his  analytical 
apprehension  of  the  law.  He  taught  because  he  loved  to 
teach,  and  because  teaching  was  one  of  the  best  modes  of 
learning.  While  he  was  a  young  man  his  reputation  attracted 
students  from  this  and  other  States  to  solicit  his  instructions. 
He  cheerfully  gave  them  the  use  of  his  library  and  the  aid  of 
his  learning  free  of  charge.  For  a  long  time  after  he  had 
retired  from  the  law  school  of  Transylvania,  he  continued  to 
instruct  classes  of  from  fifteen  to  thirty.  .That  school,  when 
he  and  Judge  Mayes,  and  afterwards,  when  he  and  Judge 
Woolley  and  Marshall  were  its  professors,  attained  a  high 
and  deserved  reputation.  Its  roll  of  matriculates  was  greater 
than  that  of  any  other  law  school  in  the  United  States. 

His  mode  of  instruction  was  by  oral  examinations  and 
comments  upon  a  text  His  questions  were  frequently  in 
the  form  of  a  sorites,  each  one  being  a  deduction  from  a  pre- 
ceding one.  In  this  way  the  pupil  was  led  to  prove  prop- 
ositions which,  perhaps,  at  first  he  denied  or  doubted.  His 
comments  were  full  and  so  lucid  that,  to  the  superficial  or 
ignorant,  they  seemed  to  be  superficial,  because  he  made 
intricate  doctrines  plain.  He  inaugurated  each  course  of 
lectures  by  a  public  introductory.  These  were  published  by 
the  successive  classes.  The  first  of  these  coming  to  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Webster,  drew  from  him  this  kind  note: 

WASHINGTON,  Dec'r  16,  1835. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

I  hope  it  is  to  your  own  remembrance  and  kindness  that  I 
am  indebted  for  a  copy  of  your  truly  excellent  Introductory 
Lecture.  I  have  read  it  with  much  pleasure.  I  have  for- 
warded it  to  my  son,  a  student  in  the  Profession 

I  hear  so  much  of  you,  my  dear  sir,  and  know  so  much, 
that  I  heartily  wish  we  might  meet,  face  to  face.  Though  I 
remember  to  have  seen  you  in  Washington,  I  hardly  know 
whether  we  were  in  each  other's  company  more  than  once. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  159 

Will  you  not  come  and  look  at  us  in  the  North?  You  would 
find  many  who  would  be  truly  glad  to  see  you. 

I  pray  you  remember  me  to  Mr.  Letcher,  and  believe  that 
I  am,  with  cordial  regard, 

Yours, 

DAN'L  WEBSTER. 
CH.  Jus.  ROBERTSON. 

He  felt  a  lively  regard  for  the  welfare  and  advancement  of 
his  pupils,  and  entertained  them  (as  did  the  other  Professors) 
often  and  handsomely  at  his  house.  Mutual  and  enduring 
regard  was  the  result  of  their  intercourse.  He  labored  not 
only  to  teach  them  municipal  law,  but  also  conservative  prin- 
ciples and  legal  etchics,  and  so  far  as  known,  all  of  them  have 
led  honorable,  and  some  of  them,  (distinguished  lives.  Prob- 
ably the  greatest  benefit  he  conferred  upon  his  country  was 
as  a  teacher.  The  effect  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  forces 
that  he  assisted  to  train  and  direct  can  never  be  estimated 
The  following  words  of  his  show  the  regard  which  he  had  for 
his  pupils: 

"Whatever  maybe  your  destiny,  may  you  ever  cherish 
fraternal  sympathies  for  each  other,  and  a  filial  remembrance 
of  your  Alma  Mater.  She  will  never  cease  to  feel  a  deep 
interest  in  all  that  concerns  you,  and  in  whatsoever  you  may 
do,  or  may  be ;  and  it  will  rejoice  her  to  hear  of  your  pros- 
perity and  honest  fame.  May  she,  like  Berecinthia,  be  now 
and  always — 

Felix  prole  I'intni 

Proud  of  her  sons,  she  lifts  her  head  on  high, 
Proud  as  the  mighty  mother  of  the  sky — 

"And  may  we  too  be  allowed  to  hope  that  you  will  not  for- 
get us,  nor  neglect  our  precepts.  If  we  have  contributed  to 
your  improvement  we  shall  be  happy  to  hail  you  as  sons, 
and  to  be  long  and  kindly  remembered ;  and  when  our  earth- 


I6O  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

ly  course  is  finished,  may  you,  our  cherished  pupils  and 
friends,  still  live  to  adorn,  to  save,  and  to  bless  our  beloved 
country. 

"Though — after  our  approaching  separation — \ve  may  not 
meet  again  on  earth,  yet,  as  \ve  are  taught  to  believe-,  it  will 
not  be  long  until  we  shall  be  re-assembled  at  th-r  bar  of  Al- 
mighty God,  to  be  severally  judged  for  the  deeds  of  our 
probationary  pilgrimage.  May  the  light  of  that  day,  like  a 
bright  fixed  star,  guide  us  from  the  snares  through  which  we 
pass  to  the  tomb,  and  cheer  our  hearts  with  a  hope  beyond 
the  grave!" 


I. 

THE  JUDGE. 

The  Great  Teacher's  precept,  "Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not 
judged,"  though,  probably,  not  intended  in  its  prohibitory 
part  to  apply  to  the  official  judge,  in  its  consequential  part 
holds  good  especially  as  to  him.  He  never  judges  without 
being  judged.  Every  one  has  a  right  to  know,  and  the  op- 
portunity of  knowing,  all  his  judicial  acts.  Like  the  patri- 
archal arbiter  of  oriental  nations,  he  sits  in  the  gate — his 
courts  are  open,  his  rulings  are  public — star  chambers  and 
secret  inquisitions  are  not  of  this  age  and  land.  Parties  and 
attornies  judge  him  because  he  judges  them  ;  by-stamlers  and 
others  judge  him  because  they  may  come  under  his  jurisdic- 
tion. These  particular  judgments  are  abstracted,  generali/.ed, 
and  perpetuated.  Who  may  be  better  supplied  with  digests, 
with  types  and  examples,  with  parallels  and  antitheses  of  his 
subject,  than  the  judge  of  a  judge  ?  Have  not  his  publicity, 
his  necessary  interference  in  the  affairs  of  others,  and  his  pe- 
culiarities, made  the  justiciary  of  low  and  of  high  degree  a 
favorite  character  of  fiction,  which  honors  his  virtues  and 
loves  to  deride  his  short  comings?  Who  has  not  laughed  at 
the  justice  Shallows  of  the  drama,  and  the  justice  Starleighs  of 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  1 6  I 

the  novel,  and  commiserated  imaginary.victims  of  the  tardi- 
ness, the  costliness,  and  the  uncertainty  of  courts  ?  And  has 
not  history,  with  no  truer  or  broader  conception  than  fiction 
(which  is  the  shadow  of  the  real),  but  with  more  Nathan-like, 
thou  art  the  man  point,  execrated,  truckling  subserviency, 
venality,  imbecility,  and  brutality  and  extolled  splendid  inde- 
pendence, incorruptible  fidelity,  varied  attainments  and  clear 
discernment  in  summing  up  the  evidence  whether  the  names 
of  particular  judges  shall  be  inscribed  in  her  pantheon,  on 
the  scrolls  of  glory  or  of  infamy  ? 

If  the  judge  is  the  most  judged,  he  is  also  often  the  worst 
judged  of  men.  The  qualities  which  he  ought  to  have,  many 
of  his  judges  lack.  They  are  frequently  interested,  and  not 
seldom  (and  sometimes  none  the  worse  for  him)  incompetent. 
The  ignorant,  not  less  readily  than  the  instructed,  judge  him. 
Individual  judgments  take  their  complexion  from  the  tempers 
of  the  individuals,  and  of  the  times.  Confident  youth,  igno- 
rant of  nothing,  tells  his  measure  quickly,  peremptorily,  and 
extravagantly.  Age,  coupled  with  experience  which  knows 
but  little,  is  apt  to  view  him  with  circumspection  and  with 
charity. 

In  piping  times  of  peace,  individual  judgments  of  a  bad 
judge  may  be  deep  but  not  loud,  and  be  satisfied  by  ming- 
ling into  a  murmuring  current  of  public  opinion;  in  stormy 
times,  individual  judgments  of  a  good  judge  may  burst  forth 
into  "reorganizing  acts,"  and  into  mobs. 

Who  then  is  authorized  to  estimate  the  absolute  qualities 
of  a  judge,  and  assign  his  relative  place?  It  is  not  enough 
to  know,  as  everybody  knows,  that  he  ought  to  be  honest, 
have  competent  knowledge  of  law,  ' '  not  be  afraid  of  the  face 
of  men,"  be  free  from  vices  and  wrongs  which  the  law  con- 
demns, be  diligent,  patient,  and  as  delay  is  a  species  of  in- 
justice, be  able  to  reach  conclusions  and  assign  sufficient 
reasons  for  them,  with  dispatch.  To  know  what  a  thing 
ought  to  be,  and  to  know  what  it  is,  are,  by  no  means, 
identical  propositions.  If  they  were,  impostor  and  kindred 
10 


1 62  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

words  might  be  dropped  from  our  speech.  Law,  not  less 
than  theology,  philosophy,  and  art,  has  its  esoteric  language 
and  doctrines.  A  critical  knowledge  of  his  judicial  rulings, 
which  is  the  crucial  test  of  a  great  judge,  must  be  confined 
to  the  initiated  and  laborio'us  few,  whose  business  it  is  to 
explore,  to  apply,  and  to  evade  them.  After  long  and  close 
attention  to  the  judgments  and  history  of  the  bench,  and  to 
the  lives  of  the  strongest  and  the  feeblest,  the  best  and  the 
basest,  who  have  adorned  or  disgraced  it,  had  fitted  him  to 
approve  or  to  condemn  forensic  proceedings,  with  at  least  a 
formidable  show  of  facts  and  of  reasons,  Judge  Robertson, 
upon  proper  occasions,  guardedly  expressed  his  opinions  of 
the  comparative  merits  of  other  judges.  A  like  careful  con- 
sideration is  due  to  his  own  course.  One  of  the  chief  and 
less  obvious  qualifications  of  a  good  judge  is  his  ability  to- 
think.  In  considering  the  thinking  faculty  regard  must  be 
had  not  only  to  the  quality  of  the  thoughts  that  is  to  the 
degree  of  generality  of  the  ideas,  the  degree  of  definiteness 
of  tiie  ideas,  the  degree  of  coherence  of  the  ideas,  but  also  to 
the  amount  or  volume  of  the  ideas.  Mechanical  forces  are 
compared  and  measured  by  the  quantity  of  motion,  which 
they  respectively  produce  in  a  given  time,  so  in  estimating 
the  relative  vigor  of  minds  the  quantity  of  work  done  must 
be  taken  into  the  account.  A  man  of  ordinary  ability  may 
accomplish  a  particular  result,  in  a  long  time  or  with  needful 
helps,  in  a  better  manner  than  one  greatly  his  superior  could 
do  it,  in  a  short  time  and  under  less  favorable  circumstances. 
Single  speech  Hamilton's  sole  effort  may  have  been  equal  to 
any  one  of  thousand  speech  Brougham,  but  as  Hamilton 
took  his  own  time  to  elaborate  his  speech,  and  never  made 
but  the  one,  it  would  be  unfair  to  rank  him  with  Brougham, 
who  could  make  a  good  speech  upon  any  subject  at  any 
time. 

The  trickling  waters  of  a  brook,  if  pent  up  with  weirs  and 
locks,  slowly  swell  into  ponds  as  deep  as  the  ordinary  chan- 
nel of  a  river. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  163 

To  call  a  judge,  as  Lord  Eldon  was  called,  a  doubter,  is  at 
best,  but  equivocal  praise ;  habitual  doubt  implies  delay,  if 
not  inconsistency.  To  call  him  a  Lingerer  is  not  expressive 
of  merit.  To  say  of  a  general,  as  was  said  of  Fabius,  "Unus 
homo,  nobis,  cunctando  rem  restituit"  may  be  a  high  eulogy;  to 
apply  the  same  words  to  a  slow  judge,  would  be  a  severe 
rebuke.  In  comparing  decisions  of  different  courts,  with 
reference  to  the  ability  of  the  judges,  the  number  of  judges 
composing  each,  the  attainments  and  industry  of  their  several 
attornies,  the  amount  and  character  of  their  business,  the 
time  occupied  in  disposing  of  it,  and  the  amount  of  compensa- 
tion pf  the  judges,  as  upon  this  may  depend  their  exemption 
from  many  distracting  cares,  must  all  be  considered.  In  all 
these,  and  perhaps  in  other  respects,  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  has  the  advantage  of  most,  perhaps,  of  all 
other  courts  in  the  Union.  The  Federal  Courts  are  better 
paid,  their  cases  are  better  prepared  and  argued  by  attornies, 
and  although  they  may  not  display  "a  masterly  inactivity," 
which  defeats  the  purposes  of  litigation,  they  take  more  time 
for  deliberation  than  would  be  patiently  tolerated  in  a  State 
judge.  The  Kentucky  Court  of  Appeals,  during  most  of  the 
time  Judge  Robertson  was  connected  with  it,  consisted  of 
but  three  judges,  who  were  so  ill  paid  as  to  have  to  resort  to 
other  means  of  making  a  living,  and  so  hard  pressed  as  to 
have  but  little  time  to  devote  to  single  cases;  its  bar  was 
never  without  able  lawyers,  but  very  many  of  the  cases  were 
hastily  and  imperfectly  prepared.  His  first  labors  were 
peculiarly  arduous.  Judge  Underwood,  a  pure  and  wise 
citizen,  who  yet  lives  to  enjoy  the  consciousness  of  a  well 
spent  life  and  the  respect  of  his  countrymen,  and  he,  were 
the  only  judges.  And  to  them  had  been  left  a  large  and 
unwelcome  legacy  of  old  cases,  amounting  to  not  less  than 
one  thousand.  He  was  inexperienced,  and  his  fitness  for 
this,  as  for  every  other  place  which  he  ever  held,  was  to  be 
tried  by  watchful  partisans  and  jealous  aspirants.  The  feel- 
ings provoked  by  a  long  and  bitter  contest  of  parties  for  the 


164  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

possession  of  this  court  had  not  subsided.  Though  the  sala- 
ry, less  than  that  of  an  ordinary  clerk  or  the  judge  of  a  petty 
police  court  of  the  present  day,  and  much  of  this  was  con- 
sumed in  paying  the  expenses  of  the  judges  in  term  time, 
would  now  be  considered  grossly  inadequate  to  the  toils  and 
responsibilities  of  the  office,  still  the  position  had  been  made 
honorable  by  illustrious  names,  and  the  men  of  that  day 
resembled  in  many  respects  the  old  Romans,  who  never 
received  any  pecuniary  reward  for  serving  their  country. 
(Judge  R.'s  reasons  for  accepting  the  office  may  be  found 
elsewhere  in  this  volume.) 

He  had  won  distinction  as  a  political  writer  and  speaker, 
and  had  rapidly  become  conspicuous  at  the  bar,  but  there  is 
not  much  affinity  between  politics  and  law,  and  although  it 
may  be  difficult  to  determine  in  what  the  diversity  consists, 
there  is  a  well  recognized  difference  between  the  mental  gifts 
and  acquirements  of  an  able  judge,  and  those  of  an  effective 
practitioner.  Great  advocates  have  made  poor  judges,  emi- 
nent judges  have  failed  at  the  bar,  both  before  and  after  their 
elevation  to  the  bench.  If  it  be  said  that  the  chief  mental 
process  of  the  judge  is  inference,  of  the  advocate  proof,  that 
the  one  inquires,  the  other  affirms,  the  one  asks  what  is  A., 
the  other  says  that  A.  is  B.,  that  the  one  begins  with  the 
premises,  the  other  starts  from  the  conclusion.  That  the 
reasoning  of  the  one  is  from  particular  propositions  to  general 
ones,  and  that  of  the  other  deductive,  still  they  seem  to 
travel  the  same  road,  but  in  different  directions.  Whatever 
may  be  the  difference,  Judge  Robertson,  by  applying  himself 
during  almost  all  the  hours  of  the  day  and  night,  with  an 
assiduity  that  injured  his  eyes,  and  would  have  broken  down 
any  but  an  iron  constitution,  rapidly  dispatched,  with  the 
assistance  of  his  distinguished  associate,  the  accumulated 
business  of  the  court,  and  soon  vindicated  his  right  to  his 
position,  and  his  claim  to  be  considered  an  able  judge.  His 
earliest  decisions  show  that  his  legal  learning  was  both  com- 
prehensive and  accurate.  In  the  cases  of  Breckinridge's  heirs 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON.  165 

v.  Ormsby,  and  Lampton's  Ex.  v.  Preston's  Ex.,  are  exhib- 
ited the  same  perspicacity  and  completeness  that  are  found  in 
his  later  opinions. 

Opinions  running  through  twenty-five  volumes  of  the  re- 
ports, well  argued,  often  exhaustive,  though  betraying  marks 
of  haste,  resulting  from  pressure  of  business,  show  that  he. 
performed  his  full  share  of  the  known  duties  of  the  court, 
but  'do  not  disclose  his  labors  in  deciding  the  far  greater 
number  of -cases  which  have  never  been  published.  He 
never  neglected  any  official  duty,  and  is  not  known  to  have 
ever  been  absent  from  his  post,  unless  he  was  personally 
interested  in  the  matter  under  consideration,  until  after  he 
had  been  attacked  with  the  malady  which  ended  his  life. 

He  understood  and  administered  the  law,  not  as  a  collec- 
tion of  arbitrary  and  detached  points,  but  as  a  rational  and 
harmonious  system.  That  empiricism,  whose  school  is  ex- 
perience, whose  only  lesson  is  examples,  does  not  belong  to 
any  one  profession.  There  are  attornies  and  judges  whose 
stock  of  learning  consists  of  practical  rules  and  forms,  whose 
writings  are  copies,  whose  reasons  are  ipse  dixits.  and  who 
often  have  the  enviable  readiness  and  accuracy  of  light 
weights  on  a  beaten  road,  but  who,  unguided  by  general 
propositions,  are,  when  left  without  "an  ancient  saw  or  a 
modern  instance,"  apt  to  mistake  the  sign  or  circumstance 
for  the  source,  the  accident  for  the  substance,  and  to  draw 
conclusions  as  trustless  as  the  post  hoc  ergo  propter  Jwc  infer- 
ence of  Master  More's  aged  man,  viz:  That  Tenterden 
steeple  was  the  cause  of  Goodwin  quicksands,  for  the  reason 
that  the  one  was  built  before  the  other  appeared.  In  describ- 
ing a  man  of  this  type,  G.  S.  Mill  remarks,  "Almost  every 
one  knows  Lord  Mansfield's  advice  to  a  man  of  practical 
good  sense,  who,  being  appointed  Governor  of  a  colony,  had 
to  preside  in  its  court  of  justice,  without  previous  judicial 
practice  or  legal  education,  the  advice  was,  to  give  his 
decision  boldly,  for  it  would  probably  be  right,  but  never  to 
venture  on  assigning  reasons,  for  they  would  almost  infallibly 


1 66  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

be  wrong.  In  cases  like  this,  which  are  of  no  uncommon 
occurrence,  it  would  be  absurd  to  suppose  that  the  bad  rea- 
son was  the  source  of  the  jood  decision.  Lord  Mansfield 
.knew  that  if  any  reason  were  assigned,  it  would  probably  be 
an  after  thought.  The  judge  being  in  fact  guided  by  im- 
pressions from  past  experience,  without  the  circuitous  process 
of  framing  general  principles  from  them,  and  that  if  he  at- 
tempted to  frame  such  he  would  assuredly  fail.  However 
Lord  Mansfield  would  not  have  doubted  that  a  man  of  equal 
experience,  who  had  also  a  mind  stored  with  general  princi- 
ples, would  have  been  greatly  preferable  as  a  judge,  to  one 
who  could  not  be  trusted  with  the  explanation  and  justifica- 
tion of  his  own  judgments." 

These  artisans,  who  are  the  bulk  of  every  profession,  owe 
their  practical  skill  to  the  loftier  labors  of  a  far  higher  order 
of  minds.  The  thinker  must  precede  the  craftsman.  The 
mass  of  accountants  apply  a  calculus,  all  practical  men  em- 
ploy rules,  which  they  neither  could  have  invented  nor 
understand.  They  accept  results  without  reasons.  They 
are,  at  best,  but  plane  glasses,  which  pass  the  light  as  they 
recieved  it,  or  with  some  loss  of  brightness,  greater  minds,  by 
refracting  the  dispersed  rays  into  a  focus,  give  a  near  and 
distinct  view  of  their  source.  Judge  Robertson  deserves  to 
be  classed  with  those  lawyers  who  have  inductively  reduced 
many  points  to  a  comparatively  few  propositions,  and  have 
administered  the  law  as  a  deductive  science,  which,  with 
some  exceptions,  growing  out  of  eccentric  decisions  and 
meddlesome  statutes,  that  are  repugnant  to  its  genius,  may 
be  exhibited  in  the  telescopic  form  of  successive  propositions, 
each  of  which  is  contained  in  the  next  preceding  one,  and  all 
in  the  first.  Hence,  though  the  laws  which  he  has  expound- 
ed may  be  repealed,  and  the  precise  facts  which  he  has 
interpreted  may  never  recur,  his  opinions,  from  the  elemen- 
tary truths  which  they  explain,  must,  like  fossil  remains  of 
the  extinct  mastodon,  exhibiting  marks  of  design  and  proving 
final  causes,  continue  to  engage  and  instruct  the  philosophic 
student. 


LIFF<   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  1 67 

To  show  that  he  did  rapidly  detect  the  true  and  essential 
resemblances  of  detached  and,  to  the  ordinary  observer,  dis- 
cordant particulars  of  fact  and  of  law,  and  refer  them  to,  and 
•tierive  them  from,  a  common  source,  would  require  large 
numbers  of  his  decisions  to  be  arranged  in  groups  or  in  trains 
according  to  the  ideal  thread  or  vinculwn  that  connects  them. 
This  can  not  be  done  here,  but  as  some  have  thought  that 
lie,  at  least  in  his  earlier  opinions,  generalized  too  much,  and 
sometimes  subordinated  particular  rules  to  the  harmony  of 
the  law  as  a  whole,  and  as  a  man's  wrong  conclusions  may 
foe  supposed  to  afford  the  severest  test  of  his  reasoning  pow- 
ers, an  attempt  will  be  made  to  show  the  logical  relation  to 
his  other  opinions  that  have  been  sustained,  of  the  only  two 
•of  his  judgments  of  any  general  importance  that  are  known 
to  have  been  overruled,  and  show  that  in  furtherance  of  indi- 
vidual rights  and  particular  justice,  by  a  strict  and  sound 
discrimination,  he  pointed  out  exceptions  to  broad  and  well 
established  principles. 

One  of  the  first  generalizations  which  a  judge  must  make 
is  an  abstract  expression  or  formula  of  the  grounds  of  legal 
responsibility,  because  this  must  be  at  least  a  tacit  premiss 
of  most  of  his  judgments,  and  he  whose  business  it  is  to  in- 
terpret the  laws  and  enforce  them,  should  not  take  the  place 
of  the  legislator.  The  difference  between  their  functions  is 
clearly  defined.  They  move  in  the  same  direction,  but  the 
law-maker  leads  the  other,  except  where  the  organic  law  is 
violated,  follows.  The  one  enquires  what  is  necessary,  or 
expedient,  or  morally  right  or  wrong?  The  other  abjures  all 
allegiance  to  "higher  law,"  or  what  ought  to  be  law,  and  to 
•casuistry  and  political  necessity.  To  the  law,  as  it  is,  his 
fealty  is  complete,  he  has  sworn  "to  be  its  man  of  life  and 
limb,  and  terrene  honor."  Judge  Robertson  has  very  often 
recognized  this  view  of  the  duties  of  the  judiciary,  especially 
in  his  elaborate  review  of  the  Dred  Scott  case,  and  in  the 
conclusion  of  his  masterly  argument  on  the  legal  tender  ques. 
tion,  he  says: — "Persuaded  that  we  are  right,  no  apprehen- 


I 68  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

sion  of  inconvenient  consequences,  merely  fiscal  nor  of  human 
responsibility  could  excuse  the  announcement  of  any  opinion 
which  is  not  conscientiously  our  own.  To  guard  the  consti- 
tution is  the  highest  trust  of  the  judiciary;  and  thinking  as 
we  do,  were  we  to  bow  to  any  other  power  than  the  law  as 
we  understand  it,  we  should  feel  guilty  of  a  criminal  breach 
of  trust,  a  shameful  dereliction  of  our  post.  *  *  *  Public 
necessity  is  an  arbitrary  and  unsafe  dictator,  and  to  save 
while  salvable,  from  its  lawless  dominion,  an  upright  judiciary 
should  now,  if  ever,  self-sacrificingly,  if  need  be,  illustrate 
the  righteous  maxim  of  Christian  patriotism,  '  Fiat  justitia 
mat  ccehun. ' ' 

Legal  responsibility  is,  therefore,  the  result  of  the  logical 
agreement  of  the  law  and  the  facts,  and  as  law  precedes  obli- 
gation, the  next  step  of  the  inquiry  is  to  ascertain  what  is 
proof  of  the  law.  There  is  a  familiar  distinction  between 
what  is  called  conclusive  and  persuasive  evidence,  and  the 
question  has  often  been  raised  whether  any  single  judicial 
decision  is  conclusive  evidence  of  the  law  in  any  case,  except 
the  one  in  which  it  was  rendered.  In  all  countries  where 
the  common  law  prevails,  many  judgments  of  the  highest 
courts  have  been  overruled  or  modified.  This  amounts  to  a 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  judges  are  neither  Pontiffs,  who 
cannot  err,  nor  Kings,  who  can  do  no  wrong.  The  judici- 
ary, as  has  been  before  said,  cannot  make  laws,  they  can  only 
expand  them  by  application  to  new  cases.  They  do,  how- 
ever, if  unconfirmed  judgments  are  conclusive,  often,  by  a 
hasty,  ill  considered,  illogical  conclusion,  by  overlooking 
authorities  or  disregarding  facts,  both  make  laws  and  repeal 
them.  Whatever  may  be  the  dividing  line  between  the  au- 
thority of  precedents  and  the  authority  of  reason,  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  the  latter  holds  a  prominent  place  in  a  science 
which  professes  to  be  the  perfection  of  reason  and  the  col- 
lected wisdom  of  ages.  As  Judge  Robertson's  views  on  this 
subject  have  sometimes  been  misapprehended,  his  own  clear 
statement  of  them  will  be  quoted.  In  speaking  of  the  malle- 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  ,169 

ability  of  the  common  law,  he  said: — "An  adjudged  point, 
unreasonable  or  inconsistent  with  analogy  or  principle,  should 
not  be  regarded  as  conclusive  evidence  of  the  law,  unless  it 
shall  have  been  long  acquiesced  in,  or  more  than  once  af- 
firmed— and  unless,  on  a  survey  of  all  material  considerations, 
you  feel  that  it  is  better  to  adhere  to  it,  than,  by  overturning 
it,  to  produce  uncertainty  and  surprise.  STARE  DECISIS 
should  be  thus  and  only  thus  understood  and  applied.  Sta- 
bility and  uniformity  require  that  authority,  even  when  con- 
flicting with  principle,  should  sometimes  decide  what  the  law 
is.  But,  in  all  questionable  cases,  follow  the  safer  guides — 
reason  and  the  harmony  of  the  law  in  all  its  parts. 

"In  consequence  of  which,  it  has  been  greatly  improved 
from  age  to  age  by  judicial  modifications  corresponding  with 
its  reason  and  the  spirit  of  the  times,  yet  the  judge  who 
leaves  it  as  he  finds  it  is  at  least  a  safe  depository.  He  is  neith- 
er a  Mansfield  nor  a  Hardwicke — he  is  more  like  Hale  and 
Kenyon.  If  he  does  not  improve,  he  does  not  mar  or  un- 
hinge the  law.  It  is  safer  and  more  prudent  to  err  sometimes 
in  the  recognition  of  an  established  doctrine  of  the  law,  than 
to  make  innovation  by  deciding  upon  principle  against  the 
authority  of  judicial  precedents." 

In  a  response  to  a  petition  in  one  of  his  earlier  cases  he 
says: — "The  practice  we  have  discontinued  was  unreason- 
able ;  it  was  peculiar  to  this  State ;  it  could  not  promote  the 
ends  of  justice;  it  would  frequently  promote  injustice  and 
irreparable  injury  without  any  reason  for  it.  The  rule  was 
old,  but  its  antiquity  alone  does  not  commend  it.  It  is  not 
sacred  and  inviolable  merely  because  it  is  ancient ;  error  is 
not  less  error  because  it  is  gray  with  age.  Time,  which 
makes  it  venerable,  renders  it  more  alarming  and  mischiev- 
ous." Still  he  would  not  disregard  the  nicest  distinctions 
when  founded  on  authority  and  principle.  For  example,  he 
decided  that  a  writing  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  a  note 
for  collection  was  not  a  covenant  to  pay  the  money  over 
when  collected,  and  afterwards  decided  that  in  such  case  an 


I/O.  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

assumpsit  will  be  implied  to  pay  within  a  reasonable  time 
after  collection. 

It  still  remains  to  find  a  common  expression  for  the  facts 
that  are  essential  to  every  legal  obligation.  The  correspond- 
ence between  the  law  and  the  facts,  however  it  may  differ  in 
degree  or  in  circumstances,  is  in  every  case  essentially  the 
same  in  kind.  The  nature  of  this  agreement  can  be  found 
by  ascertaining  what  a  municipal  law  is.  It  is,  at  the  least, 
an  authoritative  command,  addressed  to  intelligent  beings, 
requiring  them  to  do  or  not  do  a  particular  act.  Its  subject 
is  mind,  its  object  an  act.  The  doing  or  not  doing  is  ob- 
viously composed  of  two  elements,  namely,  will,  intention, 
consent  (for  each  of  these  terms  is  used  according  to  circum- 
stances to  denote  the  mental  operation  which  is  regarded), 
and  a  physical  deed  or  external  act.  In  this  country,  inten- 
tions alone  have  never  imposed  obligations,  or  been  a  cause 
of  punishment. 

And  the  doctrines  of  fraud,  mistake  duress,  and  mental 
alienation,  show  that  involuntary  acts  have  no  greater  effect. 
These  two  therefore  seem  to  be  co-ordinates,  by  which  the 
facts  are  to  be  measured.  But  the  intent  or  volition  is  the 
unseen  complement  of  the  act  of  which  the  external  conduct 
and  circumstances  are  the  signs  or  effects.  Hence  great  part 
of  practical  law  consists  in  weighing  and  applying  presump- 
tions. From  what  can  be  directly  proved  the  mental  opera- 
tion must  be  inferred  according  to  probabilities  founded  on 
experience.  To  expedite  the  application  of  these  presump- 
tions, and  to  secure  the  attainment  of  at  least  general  truth, 
law  gives  to  certain  facts  a  conclusive  and  fixed  effect,  to 
others  only  the  importance  which  they  should  have  when 
taken  in  connection  with  all  the  circumstances,  and  requires 
that  others  shall  be  the  only  evidence  of  certain  conclusions. 
These  artificial  rules  of  evidence  have  a  tendency  to  sacrifice 
individual  interests  for  the  common  welfare,  and  have,  in  the 
opinion  of  many,  been  carried  to  an  unwarrantable  extent, 
and  to  destroy  some  of  them  and  modify  others,  legislation 
has  been  invoked. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  I  J  \ 

Judge  Robertson  passed  much  of  his  judicial  life  in  sifting, 
defining,  sometimes  restricting,  but  never  or  rarely  enlarging 
these  judicial  and  statutory  devices,  that  give  to  some  signs, 
causes,  and  effects  of  intention,  a  conclusive,  and  to  others 
no  weight  or  a  fixed  or  partial  one.  Knowing  that  the  inno- 
cent had  fallen  victims  to  constructive  treasons,  constructive 
libels,  constructive  capacity,  constructive  fraud,  and  presump- 
tive murder,  and  that  a  trifling  interest  would  not  make  every 
witness  a  liar,  and  that  every  common  carrier  was  not  by  nature 
or  occupation  a  thief,  and  that  the  assumption  that  every  man 
knows  the  law  was  not,  in  any  instance,  true  to  its  whole 
extent  and  not  in  some  instances  true  to  any  extent,  and 
that  all  married  women  and  minors  are  not  in  fact  incapable 
of  contracting,  and  that  politic  enactments,  such  as  the 
statute  of  frauds  and  of  fraudulent  conveyances,  sometimes 
operated  oppressively,  and  having  considered  the  husband's 
liability  for  torts  by  his  wife,  and  the  master's  for  misfea- 
sances and  malfeasances  of  his  servant,  and  the  servant's 
accountability  to  his  fellow  servant  in  the  same  or  in  a  differ- 
ent employment.  He  looked  upon  these  and  other  numerous 
and  vast  artifices  that  had  been  brought  within  the  walls  of 
jurisprudence,  if  not  with  the  suspicion  of  a  Laocoon,  with  a 
circumspection  that  tried  all  their  ribs  and  sounded  their  hol- 
lows. And  regarding  science  as  a  unit,  he  endeavored  to 
give  these  presumptions  their  proper  place  as  members  of 
the  science  of  law. 

Satisfying  himself  that  the  intervention  of  mind  is  essential 
to  legal  responsibility,  and  that  legal  presumptions,  which 
are  generalizations  of  particular  or  natural  presumptions,  like 
ready-made  clothing,  cut  upon  a  calculation  of  mean  propor- 
tions or  averages,  and  which  fit  the  various  members  of  the 
classes  or  sizes  for  which  they  were  designed,  with  unequal 
degrees  of  accuracy,  are  only  expressions  of  approximate 
truth,  and  in  some  of  their  applications  of  untruth,  he  seems 
to  have  held  that  they  were  to  be  rigidly  applied  only  so  far 
as  they  had  been  rigidly  established,  but  not  extended  even 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


to  analogous  cases.  He  also  saw  as  the  law  wras  deductive, 
commencing  with  a  single  definition  and  spreading  into  nu- 
merous branches,  that  the  extremes  of  related  subjects  run 
into  each  other,  and  also  that  different  ramifications,  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  interlap  and  seem  to  conflict,  in  so 
much  that  in  well  arranged  digests  it  is  impossible  to  tell,  in 
the  first  instance,  under  which  of  several  heads  to  look  for 
propositions  common  to  all.  Whenever  the  matter  under 
consideration  occupied  this  debatable  ground,  he  assigned  it 
to  that  title,  and  disposed  of  it  according  to  the  law  of  that 
which  he  thought  was  most  rational  and  just,  and  in  this  way 
appeared  to  modify  existing  laws  when  he  only  reconciled 
them. 

*  *  *  \Ve  find  that  this  critique  must  be  a  nut  without 
its  kernel.  Hamlet,  with  Hamlet  left  out  —  a  conclusion  from 
suppressed  premises.  A  somewhat  elaborate  attempt  has 
been  made  by  an  analysis  and  harmony  of  cases  to  elucidate 
and  verify  the  foregoing  statements,  but  many  a  tale,  '  '  like 
Cambuscan's  bold,"  must  be  left  half  told.  This  book  ap- 
proaches its  prescribed  limits,  and  we  sacrifice  the  abstracts 
in  preference  to  other  matter.  Space  may  be  afforded  to 
show  the  general  tenor  of  that  which  has  been  omitted.  The 
purpose  was  to  show  what  effect  Judge  R.  gave  to  actual 
and  artificial  or  constructive  intent  in  the  most  diverse  cases, 
and  how,  without  violence  to  the  law,  when  two  or  more 
well  established  principles  conflicted  in  a  particular  case,  he 
selected  the  one  which  he  thought  was  most  just  and  rational. 
Among  others,  the  following  facts  were  brought  forward. 
In  pursuance  of  the  settled  proposition,  fraud  shall  not  be 
presumed,  he  repudiated  the  distinction,  taken  in  early  Ken- 
tucky cases  between  a  supprcssio  vcri  and  a  suggestio  fa/si, 
which  required  evidence  of  knowledge  of  the  truth  in  the  one 
case  and  not  in  the  other,  and  affirmed  that  (actual)  fraud  is 
a  wilful  misrepresentation  of  facts,  or  a  fraudulent  conceal- 
ment of  them,  with  a  view  to  deceive,  and  that  a  party,  by 
making  representations  of  facts  which  he  honestly  believes 


UFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  173 

to  be  true,  is  guilty  of  no  moral  turpitude  and  incurs  no  legal 
responsibility.       The  maxim  that  no  man  shall  stultify  him- 
self,  or  that  every  man  shall  be  treated  as  sane,    had  been 
shaken,   but  not  overturned.      So  soon  as  he  came  upon  the 
bench,  he  discarded  it  in  civil  cases,   on  the  ground  that  the 
proposition   affirming  a  contract  to  be  an  agreement,   aggre 
(gatio)  mcnt  (tium),  or  contunence  of  minds,  is  at  least  equally 
well   established,    equally  ancient,    and    far  more  rational. 
When  he  came  to  examine  that  other  outpost  of  expediency, 
namely,    ignorance  of  law  excuses  no  man,    he,   for  the  first 
time  (so  far  as  we  know),   qualified  it,   or  rather  harmonized 
it  with  the  indisputable  principle,    that  every  contract  must 
have  a  consideration,    by  deciding  that  where  it  is  perfectly 
evident  that  the  only  consideration  of  an  alleged  agreement 
was  a  mistake  of  the  legal  rights  and  obligations  of  the  par- 
ties, and  when  there  has  been  no  fair  compromise  of  bona  fide 
and  doubtful  claims,    the  agreement  may  be  avoided  on  the 
ground  of  total  want  of  consideration  or  mutuality.      This  is 
as  far  as  he  would  sustain  a  mistake  of  law,   and  it  has  ever 
since  been  recognized  as  the  true  principle.      Under  statutes 
creating  constructive  frauds,  while  he  made  particular  facts 
evidence  of  intent,   so  far  as  the  statutes  and  repeated  decis- 
ions had  fixed  their  import,   he  denied  that  a  like  inferential 
effect  should    be  given   to  new  or   slightly  different  facts. 
Pressed  by  cogent  argument,   he  refused  to  apply  the  statute 
of  fraudulent  conveyances  to  a  case,   in  which  the  convey- 
ance was  made,   not  by  the  debtor  or  of  his  estate,   but  by 
another  person,   at  the  instance  and  with  the  money  of  the 
debtor,    and  maintained    that  as   the  common  law  will  not 
presume  fraud,  a  conveyance  procured  by  a  father,  in  consid- 
eration of  his  money,   to  be  made  to  his  children,  will  not  at 
common  law,    or  under  the  statute,    be  deemed  fraudulent, 
from  the  fact  alone  that  he  was  indebted  at  the  time.     That 
he  sustained  well  settled  artificial  rules  of  evidence,   to  their 
full  extent,  may  be  seen  in  his  dissent,  which  has  the  urgency 
of  a  remonstrance,  from  the  decision  of  a  majority  of  the  court 


1/4  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

that  on  oral  proof  of  a  mistake  in  drawing  a  deed,  the  con- 
veyance can  not  only  be  set  aside,  but  that  the  deed  may  be 
reformed  and  then  specifically  enforced.  Likewise,  though 
doubting  the  policy  of  the  statute  making  retention  of  pos- 
session by  the  seller  of  a  chattel,  fraud  per  se,  he  never 
swerved  from  it,  however  he  differed  from  subsequent  judges 
as  to  what  constitutes  change  of  possession.  Can  a  man  at 
law  contract  with  himself?  If  the  presumptions  upholding 
the  execution  and  consideration  of  writings  seem  to  affirm 
that  he  may,  the  idea  of  an  agreement,  expressed  in  the  say- 
ing, It  takes  two  to  make  a  bargain,  affirm  as  decisively  that 
he  cannot.  A  and  B  make  their  promissory  note,  which, 
by  the  law  of  Kentucky  is  a  specialty,  to  one  of  themselves, 
A.  A  majority  of  the  court,  Judge  Robertson  being  one, 
decided  that  a  contract  is  the  reciprocal  consent  of  two  or  more 
minds  to  do  or  not  do  a  particular  thing,  that  therefore  A 
could  not  make  an  enforcible  obligation  to  pay  himself,  and 
that,  at  law,  contracts  were  not  apportionable,  and  each  joint 
obligor  was  primarily  liable  for  the  whole  amount,  without 
denying  that  B  might  have  relief  in  equity,  he  was  required 
to  pay  the  whole.  This  decision  has  been  repeatedly  fol- 
lowed. Where  there  has  been  no  mistake  or  fraud,  and 
where  there  is  no  assignment  and  no  relation  between  an 
original  party  and  the  claimant,  can  the  claimant  be  presump- 
tively substituted  in  the  place  of  a  party  expressly  named  in 
the  obligation?  A,  and  B,  his  surety,  make  their  promissory 
note  to  C,  a  bank,  to  enable  A  to  raise  money  on  it.  C 
refuses  to  accept  the  note  or  furnish  the  funds.  A  delivers 
the  note  to  D,  who  advances  the  money.  Is  B  liable  to  D  on 
the  note?  If  leaving  the  name  of  the  obligor  blank  implies 
authority  to  fill  the  blank  with  any  name,  inserting  a  partic- 
ular name  must  be,  at  least,  an  implied  denial  of  the  right  to 
insert  any  other  name.  An  accommodation  party  has  a 
right  to  select  his  creditor,  and  if  he  do  name  him,  why  should 
not  the  maxim,  cxprcssio  nnins  cxclusio  altcrius  apply?  He 
may  have  abundant  reasons  for  his  choice,  which  are  not  an- 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  1/5 

svvered  by  the  assertion  that  the  instrument  in  the  hands  of 
the  obligee  would  be  assignable.  For  example:  he  may 
have  reasons  to  expect  accommodation  or  indulgence  from 
the  party  named ;  may  have  a.  set  off  against  his  claim,  or 
may  be  unwilling  that  his  own  name  should  be  hawked  in 
the  market.  Every  purchaser  of  the  note  knows  from  its 
face  who  the  payee  is,  and  must  be  presumed  to  know  the 
law  of  derivative  parties.  According  to  that  law  no  one  but 
the  payee  can  assign  the  legal  title  to  the  note,  and  to  ena- 
ble an  action  to  be  maintained  by  relation,  the  relator  C 
must  have  the  legal  title.  If  a  note  be  indorsed  to  the 
maker,  the  indorsement  extinguishes  it;  the  maker's  in- 
dorsement will  not  revive  it,  but  will  create  a  new  obligation. 
The  refusal  of  the  note  by  the  payee  is  a  much  stronger  fact 
for  the  maker.  In  the  one  case  it  is  returned  to  the  maker 
because  it  has  ceased  to  be  obligatory ;  in  the  other  case  be- 
cause it  never  was  obligatory.  Until  a  recent  statute  the 
law  was,  that  the  indorsement  by  the  maker  of  a  note,  pay- 
able to  his  own  order,  was  mere  evidence  of  a  previous 
indebtedness.  The  ingenuity  and  force  of  the  argument  in 
this  case  (Conway  v.  The  Bank  of  the  U.  S.),  cannot  be 
exhibited  in  an  abridged  form.  This  decision,  after  standing 
many  years,  has  been  repeatedly  overruled,  for  reasons  which 
do  not  very  satisfactorily  appear.  Proof  of  homicide  creates, 
in  the  first  instance,  the  presumption  of  murder.  May  this 
presumption  be  to  any  extent  repelled  by  proof  that  the  ac- 
cused, by  his  own  act,  was  drunk?  According  to  an  early 
Kentucky  decision,  drunkenness,  unless  produced  by  the 
adverse  party,  with  a  fraudulent  intent,  by  which  he  gained 
an  undue  advantage,  could  not  be  shown  in  avoidance  of  a 
contract.  Subsequent  decisions  of  the  same  court  establish 
that  drunkenness,  which  renders  the  party  incompetent  to 
contract,  however  it  may  have  been  produced,  will  defeat  the 
contract.  Why  apply  one  rule  in  civil,  another  in  criminal 
cases?  The  basis  of  the  obligations  to  keep  one's  word,  and 
to  abstain  from  unlawful  violence,  are  the  same.  Intelligent 


176  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

will  is  at  the  bottom  of  both.  Drunkenness  produces  every 
degree  of  mental  aberation  and  alienation.  If  it  be  said  that 
drunkenness  is  intentional  or  wilful,  and  the  drunkard  a  vol- 
untarius  demo,  it  may  be  replied,  that  in  many  instances  it  is 
the  accidental  surprise  of  temperate  and  upright  men,  who 
drink  for  social  enjoyment,  or  its  victim,  impelled  by  a  re- 
sistless appetite  that  is  sometimes  congenital  or  acquired  from 
the  cordials  administered  in  infancy  or  sickness,  or  stimulants 
taken  as  a  relief  against  misfortunes,  is  pursued  by  a  nemesis 
as  unrelenting  and  fatal  as  the  destiny  of  wretched  and  inno- 
cent house  of  Labdacus.  As  to  his  being  a  voluntary 
demon,  the  answer  is,  that  although  a  frequent  antecedent 
and  cause  of  crime,  still  the  relation  between  drunken- 
ness and  crime  is  neither  so  intimate  nor  so  frequent  as  to 
create  any  presumption  that  drunkenness  is  produced  with  a 
view  to  commit  crime.  The  objection  that  the  decisions  of 
courts  uniformly  held  drunkenness  not  to  be  allowable  in 
mitigation,  is  met  by  the  statement,  that  the  question  had 
never  been  decided  by  a  court  of  errors  in  Kentucky,  and  the 
British  decisions  were  coeval  with,  and  founded  upon,  the 
same  extreme  notions  of  expediency  with  the  overruled  doc- 
trine that  no  man  can  stultify  himself. 

With  regard  to  the  expediency  of  admitting  drunkenness 
in  mitigation,  it  was  urged  that  this  was  a  more  proper  ques- 
tion for  the  Legislature  than  for  courts,  and  that  as  manners 
control  laws,  a  people  who  refuse  to  prohibit  or  punish  drunk- 
enness will  not,  under  any  instructions  of  courts,  be  likely  to 
ignore  it  in  the  framing  of  verdicts. 

That  drunkenness,  in  at  least  some  cases  and  for  some 
purpose,  was  admissible  in  criminal  cases,  was  the  logical 
sequence  of  very  many  of  Judge  Robertson's  opinions.  Not 
being  a  man  who  could  halt  midway  in  an  argument,  or 
refuse  to  apply  a  conclusion  which  he  had  labored  so  often 
to  establish,  he  rendered  the  opinion  of  the  court,  that  under 
p/oper  qualifications,  drunkenness,  resulting  from  a  desire 
for  social  enjoyment,  or  sensual  gratification,  may  be  given 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  177 


in  evidence,  under  the  plea  of  not  guilty,  to  a  charge  of 
murder,  and  may,  if  from  all  circumstances  the  jury  shall  so 
consider,  reduce  the  offense  to  manslaughter.  This  is  as  far 
as  he  was  asked  to  go,  and  regarding  expediency  as  not  a 
subject  of  judicial  consideration,  or  whatever  is  right  to  be 
expedient,  the  conclusion  is  inevitable. 

His  opinions  penetrate  into  almost  every  department  of 
jurisprudence.  Those  upon  the  meaning  of  statutes,  and 
upon  rules  of  practice  and  pleading,  exhibit  his  ingenuity 
and  capacity  for  details,  but  those  upon  the  leading  princi- 
ples of  equity,  constitutional,  and  international  law,  give 
most  room  for  his  discursive  powers,  and  show  to  the  best 
advantage  the  range  and  rigor  of  his  intellect  and  the  extent 
of  his  erudition. 

The  kind  and  arrangement  of  a  man's  words  are  a  good 
index  to  some  of  the  qualities  of  his  mind.  The  style  of  an 
obscure  thinker  is  never  clear,  nor  of  a  slow  one  rapid,  nor 
of  a  dull  one  brilliant.  Judge  Robertson  could  clothe  his 
thoughtc  in  different  garbs,  according  to  the  subject  and  the 
occasion.  They  have  appeared  in  the  curt  and  gladiatorial 
dress  of  Junius,  in  the  homespun  of  Bunyan  and  Cobbet, 
in  the  flowing  robe  of  the  historian  of  his  own  name,  and  in 
the  ample  and  stately  toga  of  Gibbon.  The  style  of  his 
opinions  was  his  ordinary  style  ;  he  adopted  and  adhered  to  it, 
because  it  was  the  language  and  idiom  in  which  he  thought, 
and  because  it  required  no  elaboration.  It  bears  no  resem- 
blance to  that  of  his  associates  or  predecessors,  and  can  be 
detected  at  once.  He  wrote  as  fast  a.s  he  could  perform  the 
manual  part,  without  erasures  or  interlineation,  and  never 
revised.  Many  of  his  longest  opinions  were  struck  out  at  a 
single  heat,  and  he  either  thought  that  alterations  would 
emasculate  the  first  strong  expressions,  or  his  time  was  too 
much  occupied  to  permit  him  to  attend  to  the  refinements  of 
composition.  His  opinions  were  thought  out,  often,  when 
he  was  in  a  recumbent  position,  with  closed  eyes,  before  he 
took  up  his  pen.  Whatever  may  be  the  defects  of  his  mode 
ii 


1/8     '  LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


of  expression  it  is  grammatically  correct,  and  so  clear  as  to 
present  his  meaning  with  ease  and  precision.  His  opinions 
are  among  the  easiest  to  digest  that  can  be  found.  His 
style  also  is  remarkable  for  its  force ;  he  writes  like  a  man 
who  is  in  earnest.  It  has  been  said  that  his  opinions  betray 
feeling;  this  is  true;  they  exhibit  the  feeling  which  is  the  re- 
sult and  not  the  cause  of  strong  convictions ;  his  cogent  and 
diversified  arguments  show  the  source  of  his  conclusions. 
Feeling  of  some  kind  must  be  behind  every  energetic  style. 
It  has  been  well  said,  "With  a  callous  heart  there  can  be  no 
genius  in  the  imagination,  or  wisdom  in  the  mind ;  and 
therefore  the  prayer,  with  equal  truth  and  sublimity,  says, 
'incline  our  hearts  unto  wisdom.'  Resolute  thoughts  find 
words  for  themselves,  and  make  their  own  vehicle;  impres- 
sion and  expression  are  relative  ideas;  he  who  feels  deeply 
will  express  strongly ;  the  language  of  light  sensation  is  nat- 
urally feeble  and  superficial." 

Some  have  thought  that  a  judge  should  be  a  bust  truncated 
above  the  heart ;  the  mutilating  paradox  is  false ;  a  judge 
of  human  conduct  and  motives  must  be  a  whole  man,  able 
to  know,  to  feel,  to  will. 

Judge  Robertson  had  a  vivid  imagination,  which  quick- 
ened and  adorned  his  varied  knowledge,  and  shed  the  light 
of  copious  illustration  upon  the  intricate  path  of  argument. 
All  his  arguments  may  not  be  correct,  nor  all  his  illustrations 
in  good  taste,  but  the  luxuriant  vegetation,  which  a  fertile 
soil  throws  up,  makes  amends  for  the  weeds,  which,  under 
the  best  culture,  are  mingled  with  its  fruits  and  flowers.  It 
has'  been  suggested  that  he  preferred  to  use  words  that  are 
not  of  Saxon  origin.  If  this  be  a  fault,  it  is  the  fault  of  many 
graceful  and  vigorous  writers.  Hut  upon  examination  it  will 
be  found  that  his  terms  are  well  selected  and  expressive. 
The  law  has  a  dialect  of  its  own.  The  two  languages  in 
which  it  was  first  written,  and  in  which  its  proceedings  were 
conducted,  and  which  have  left  imperishable  traces  upon  its 
nomenclature,  were  neither  of  them  Saxon.  And  although 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  179 

Judge  Robertson  adopted  many  names  and  phrases  from  the 
early  common  law  writers  and  from  the  civilians,  he  has 
taken  none,  which  those  for  whom  his  judicial  writings  are 
intended,  ought  not  readily  to  understand.  Besides,  the 
learned  are  not  agreed  that  too  much  of  importance  has  not 
been  attributed  to  Anglo-Saxon  blood,  of  which  but  little 
now  remains,  and  to  Anglo-Saxon  words,  which  constitute 
but  a  small  part  of  our  vocabulary. 

The  English  language  is  made  up  of  three  principal,  and 
many  smaller,  tributaries,  whose  combined  volume  is  required 
to  bear  the  intellectual  commerce  of  this  age.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  language  ceased  to  grow  before  modern  thought  be- 
gan, and,  like  the  language  of  every  uncultivated  people,  it 
has  names  for  little  more  than  the  commonest  objects  of 
sense.  What  is  called  English  undefiled,  is  only  peculiarly 
fitted  to  narrative  and  descriptive  compositions,  like  those 
found  in  the  Bible,  in  the  works  of  Bunyan,  and  of  De  Foe. 
And  the  Bible,  when  it  expounds  abstract  truths,  resorts  to 
such  terms  as  predestination,  sanctification,  and  justification, 
for  which  the  primitive  tongue  affords  no  equivalents.  Saxon 
words  are  no  more  fitted  for  the  entire  purposes  of  modern 
thought,  than  the  painted  vest,  which  Prince  Vortigfern  won 
from  a  naked  Pict,  would  be  a  suitable  dress  for  all  the  occa- 
sions of  modern  society.  His  crowning  merit  as  a  judge  was 
his  high  and  unblemished  probity.  Every  suitor  received 
from  him  a  patient  and  respectful  hearing,  an  honest  and 
well  considered  judgment.  On  the  bench  and  elsewhere, 
however  he  may  have  fallen  short  of  other  men,  or  excelled 
them,  he  devoted  his  time  and  his  energy  to  the  discharge  of 
his  duties,  and  did  the  best  that  he  was  able  to  do.  To  him, 
without  qualification,  may  be  applied  the  noble  lines  of  Dry- 
den  : — 

•'In  Isreai's  courts  ne'er  sat  an  Abetlulin 
With  more  discerning  eyes,  or  hands  more  clean, 
Unhribed,  unsought  the  wretched  to  redress, 
Swift  of  dispatch,  and  easy  of  access  " 


ISO  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


It  is  believed  it  could  be  said  of  George  Robertson,  as 
Alexander  Seve/us  said  of  Ulpian,  that  the  laws  could  not  go 
far  astray  while  he  was  at  the  helm.  And  that  the  laws  of 
Kentucky  are  not  less  wise  and  consistent,  and  her  judicial 
reports  less  respected  at  home  and  abroad,  from  the  fact  that 
he  sat  so  long  and  faithfully  upon  the  bench  of  her  highest 
court,  and  was  the  associate  of  so  many  true  and  gifted  men, 
of  whom  Buckner,  and  Ewing,  and  Marshall,  and  Nicholas, 
and  Hardin,  are  now  his  associates  in  death.  His  companion 
in  youth,  his  first  and  probably  his  best  beloved  colleague, 
Judge  Underwood,  still  lives. 

"May  death  not  IK-  jr:il<>ii»  <>f  the  mild 
Which  jrcntlv  wins  him  hi>." 


J- 
J.  B.  ROBERTSON. 

James  B.  Robertson  was,  if  not  the  best,  one  of  the  best 
talktrs  of  his  day ;  he  was  also  a  correct  and  ready  writer. 
The  only  productions  of  his  pen  in  my  possession,  are  two 
faded  letters,  written  in  pencil,  on  long  strips  of  printing 
paper.  Even  in  these  careless,  effusions  may  be  found  flashes 
ot  his  playful  humor,  and  evidence  of  his  fluency,  as  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  will  show.  The  larger  portions  of  these 
communications  are  descriptive  of  men  and  things,  in  dis- 
turbed times,  and  are  too  pungent,  personal,  and  truthful,  to 
be  published  now: 

LEXINGTON,   Feb.    I4th,    1866. 
Dear  Aleck: 

Yours  of  the  I5th  reached  me  with  reasonable  dispatch. 
I  am  exceedingly  glad  that  my  enclosures  escaped  the  perils 
of  the  wayside,  and  afforded  you  so  much  satisfaction.  I 
have  sent  you  several  of  our  papers,  which,  dull  as  they 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  l8l 


habitually  are,  will  give  you  a  fuller  abstract  of  affairs  here 
and  hereabouts  than  I  could  hope  to  do  with  an  unpractised 
pen. 

*  #  *  *  #  *  * 

The  old  gentleman  is  again  at  Frankfort.  In  his  absence 
the  place  is  almost  exclusively  surrendered  to  the  negroes, 
of  whom  he  is  now  subsisting  a  populous  colony — no  fewer 
than  four  able  bodied  women,  two  grown  men,  and  one  or 
two  voracious  picaninnies.  I  know  nothing  of  their  sump 
tuary  arrangements,  but  imagine  that  it  would  require  an 
army  commissariat  to  keep  such  an  establishment  long  upon 
its  legs.  The  waste,  pillaging,  and  vexation,  must  be  enor- 
mous. I  have  been  unable  to  find  the 
whereabouts  of  Wash,  and  presume  that  he  has  been  for 
sometime  dead.  Jourdan,  the  patriarchal  and  pediculous, 
however  still  lives  and — eats.  Prayer  is  professedly  his  great 
consolation,  and  he  did,  for  a  time,  essay  to  exist  as  Elijah 
and  some  of  those  old  fellows  did,  a  good  while  ago,  but  the 
experiment  was  unblessed,  and  he  returned  to  his  oats.  A 
has  a  *  *  and  barring  interminable  imbroglios  with  her 
"help,"  which  she  avers  is  no  help  at  all,  she  seems  to  be 
getting  along  about  as  well  as  her  idiosyncracies  of  temper 
will  permit.  B  has  his  commons  at  home,  and  contributes 
much  the  greater  share  to  the  maintainance  of  the  concern. 
The  C's  seem  to  thrive  as  well  as  ever.  They  have 
an  abundance  of  company,  which  they  doubtless  entertain 
with  their  accustomed  facility  and  frugality.  The  wind 
which  blew  D  away,  was  the  gale  of  necessity.  He  had 
literally  "played  out"  around  here,  and  accepted,  so  he 
proclaimed,  the  good  offices  of  a  kinsman,  who  proffered 
him  certain  inducements  to  go  to  Michigan.  Reaching 
Chicago,  where  he  was  to  meet  his  benefactor,  he  found 
himself  minus  the  wherewithal  to  proceed  farther,  and  also 
failed  to  find  the  benefactor.  But  he  continued  to  push  on, 
and  at  last  found  his  Samaritan,  in  as  hopeless  a  state  of  im- 
pecuniosity  as  himself.  He  is  still  in  Michigan,  and  is  said 


1 82  LIFE    OF    GFORGE    ROBERTSON. 


to  be  making  but  poor  headway  against  the  tide.  I  have 
not  seen  E  or  F  for  months.  Since  the  Rebs  stopped  their 
forays  into  their  part  of  the  country,  their  own  descents  into 
this  have  been  fewer  and  farther  between.  *  *  I  have 

thus  given  you  a  condensed  census  of  ,  and  would 

enlarge  it  into  an  epitome  of  the  personal  history  of  the 
friends  and  acquaintances  you  left  behind,  but  for  fear  of 
losing  you  as  a  correspondent.  The  fact  is,  however,  you 
would  require  a  re  naturalization  here,  so  radically  have  the 
manners  and  population  changed.  As  an  experiment  upon 
your  patience,  I  will  endeavor  to  catalogue  a  few  of  the  more 
familiar  characters,  then  and  now.  I 

have  heard  nothing  of  the  P's  for  a  long  time.  John  was 
badly  crippled  in  the  rebel  army,  and  afterwards  married  a 
Mississippi  widow,  wealthy  before  the  war.  Jim  has  shot 
from  the  surface,  and  is  probably  burrowing  somewhere,  as 
a  provincial  pedagogue.  H  N.  holds  his  own,  in  his  own 
eccentric  way,  and  with  a  hunt  or  a  piscatory  debauch,  now 
and  then,  is  commendably  abstemious.  C.  D.  is  still  an 
attache  of  the  court-house — in  fact,  he  is  every  where,  where 
money  is  to  be  made,  and  is  doubtless  getting  rich.  L  has 

changed  his  base,  and  is  now  holding  forth  at  the office. 

From  indications  and  known  facts,  I  would  infer  that  his  per 
diem  consumption  of  what  Dickens  calls  "conspiracy  against 
life,"  could  only  be  calculated  in  quarts.  Old  M  has  been 
ousted  from  his  habitat,  and  looks  like  a  desolation.  X.  Y. 
has  tapered  off  somewhat,  but  is  as  intolerable  a  nuisance  as 
ever.  L.  M.  is  residing  in  New  York,  and  Ben  is  leading  a 
life  of  inelegant  leisure  here.  [At  this  point  the  letter  runs 
into  politics.]  W  himself  was  threatened  with  arrest,  and 
fled  in  dismay.  There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  he  would 
have  been  held  for  contumacy,  I  suppose,  in  daring  to 
make  a  second  application  to  the  Grand  Panjandaram  for  the 
coveted  permits.  By  some  extraordinary  auto  da  fe  he  has 
been  permitted  to  return,  and  reached  his  home  in  the  coun- 
try a  few  days  ago,  where  he  remains  in  penitential  retire- 


LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  183 

ment.  H  also,  was,  Cataline-like,  "set  free,"  and  he  too 
returns  a  wiser,  if  not  more  loyal,  man.  I  could  cite  numer- 
ous examples  of  this  arbitrary  exercise  of  power,  &c. 


AUGUST  IITH,    1866. 

With  the  single  exception  of  politics,  affairs  here,  both 
social  and  commercial,  aesthetic  and  ordinary,  are  in  a  state 
of  unpromising  stagnation.  One  thing,  how- 

•ever,  is  certain,  the  Big  Sandy,  and  every  other  projected 
enterprise  of  any  magnitude,  in  Kentucky,  will  have  to  be 
finished,  if  finished  at  all,  with  foreign  capital,  and  operated 
with  foreign  brains.  All  is  apathy  and  stupidity  here.  * 

I  have  but  little  intimacy  with  the 

disciples  of  Themis.  W  is  pro- 

fessing medicine,  at  N ;  his  wife  is  here.  Whether  he  has 
suspended  connubial  relations,  I  am  unprepared  to  say.  H. 
G.  I  have  not  seen  for  some  time ;  he  has  been  here  until 

very  recently,  teaching  music,  operating  the  organ  at  

church,   and  imbibing   copious   lager. 

Papa's  establishment  has  become  quite  a  popular  house  of 
call.  Mr.s.  R,  a  claimant  for  cousinship,  and  a  Miss  G,  a 
marriageable  protege,  passed  sometime  there  lately.  Mrs.  R, 
nee  I — n,  is  a  rather  comely  widow  of  questionable  age,  and  a 
native  of  Va  She  struck  up  an  acquaintance  with  the  old 
gentleman,  I  believe  through  correspondence,  while  visiting 

some  family  in    Chicago.      Another  party  of  ladies 

from,  &c.  I  hope  yet  to  give  you  a  Christmas  greeting.  My 
revenue  is  small,  it  is  true,  but  I  need  not  assure  you,  that 
' '  what  so  poor  a  man  as  Hamlet  is,  may  do,  God  willing, 
shall  not  lack."  Unless  then  you  have  renounced  Kentucky 
altogether,  pay  us  the  promised  visit,  before  another  intes- 
tine war,  which  quidnuncs  would  have  us  believe  is  fearfully 
imminent.  I  protest  I  would  incontinently  inflict  a  domicil- 
iary visit  upon  you  and  yours,  were  it  not,  &c. 


184  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 


NOTICE  TAKEN  BY  THE  PRESS  OF  JUDGE  ROB- 
ERTSON'S DECEASE. 

Of  the  many  bar  resolutions  and  obituary  notices,  the  fol- 
lowing are  sufficient  to  show  the  place  that  Judge  Robertson 
occupied  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  his  countrymen  : 

GKORGE    ROBERTSON. 


1790—1874. 

George  Robertson,  for  more  than  half  a  century  a  leading  and  control- 
ling spirit  in  the  politics  and  jurisprudence  of  Kentucky,  is  no  more.  In 
the  long  and  crowded  line  of  illustrious  children,  of  whom  our  State  is 
justly  proud,  the  public  life  of  not  one  other,  we  helievc.  ha*  extended  over 
so  long  a  period  as  his;  and  certainly  the  life  of  none  has  been  more  \aried 
in  service,  more  constant  in  honor.  Horn  in  Garrard  county  in  1790,  he 
lived  through  more  than  four-score  years,  anil  has  but  now  fallen  in  his 
tracks.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  tar  back  in  the  early  times,  when  Ken- 
tucky was  still  in  the  dark  and  bloody  ground;  an  almost  unbroken 
wilderness;  that  of  his  death  finds  her,  largely  through  his  own  loyal  and 
loving  efforts,  an  empire  in  resources  and  in  promise.  The  strength  and 
abundant  vitality,  which  bore  him  through  so  long  a  course,  and  enabled 
him  to  labor  so  honorably  to  himself,  so  profitably  to  us  all,  he  derived 
with  his  being  itself  from  the  sound  and  sturdy  pioneer  stock,  whence  he 
sprang.  Nor  did  he  have  to  purchase  the  advantages  of  health  and  vigor 
by  the  lack  of  early  culture,  which  so  many  of  our  strong  and  good  men, 
contemporary  with  him,  had  to  deplore.  For  primitive  times,  his  oppor- 
tunities of  cultivation  were  unusual,  and  he  became  a  scholar.  In  1816  he 
was  elected  to  Congress,  being  then  only  twenty  six  years  old.  He  was 
twice  re-elected,  but  resigned  at  the  beginning  of  his-third  term,  without 
taking  his  seat,  in  order  to  devote  himself  more  entirely  to  his  profession. 
Young  as  he  was,  he  acted  quite  a  prominent  part  in  national  politics  dur- 
ing the  terms  of  his  service.  He  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Territories,  and  author  of  the  present  system  of  selling  public  lands.  He 
particularly  distinguished  himself  in  the  angry  controversy  over  the  erec- 
tion of  a  Territorial  government  for  Arkansas,  a  proviso  in  the  bill 
prohibiting  slavery  being  stricken  out,  after  a  long  and  doubtful  contest, 
only  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  Speaker,  Mr.  Clay.  After  leaving  Con- 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  185 

gress,  Mr.  Robertson  was  often,  but  vainly,  solicited  to  accept  various 
positions  of  honor  and  public  trust.  President  Monroe  offered  him  the 
Governorship  of  the  territory  of  Arkansas,  and  the  mission  to  Columbia; 
President  Adams  appointed  him  minister  to  Peru;  but  all  these  positions 
he  declined.  During  the  animated  struggle  between  the  New  Court  and 
the  Old  Court  parties,  the  activity  of  his  mind,  and  his  keen  interest  in 
public  affairs,  in  a  measure  forced  him  to  lay  aside  for  a  time  his  resolu- 
tion to  abstain  entirely  from  politics;  and  he  was  elected  by  a  spontaneous 
movement  of  the  people  to  the  Kentucky  House  of  Representatives,  and 
was  chosen  Speaker  of  that  body.  The  public  labors  of  his  later  years 
were  in  the  department  of  jurisprudence.  In  1829  he  was  appointed  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  and  held  that  eminently  responsible  posi- 
tion for  fourteen  years,  when  he  resigned  and  again  retired  to  private  life. 
During  the  war  he  was  recalled  by  the  vote  of  the  people  to  the  Supreme 
bench,  and,  during  the  inauguration  ceremonies  of  Gov.  Leslie,  the  vener- 
able jurist  tendered  his  verbal  resignation,  which  was  afterwards  reduced 
to  writing  and  accepted.  This  was  in  Semptember,  1872,  since  which  time 
he  has  resided  quietly  at  his  home  in  Lexington.  He  never  recovered 
from  his  piralyt'C  stroke,  and  had  been  almost  a  constant  sufferer  up  to 
the  moment  of  his  death. 

In  noticing  the  characteristics  of  Judge  Robertson's  intellect,  no  one  can 
fail  to  be  struck  by  its  precocity,  especially  when  taken  in  connection  with 
the  great  age  which  he  attained,  and  his  continued  activity  to  the  last. 
He  ripened  early,  and  he  hung  long  upon  the  bough,  thus  furnishing  a 
remarkable  exception  to  the  general  rule  in  such  cases.  At  his  first  ap- 
pearance upon  the  arena  of  politics,  he  was  already  a  strong  and  fully 
developed  man.  His  writings  and  speeches  at  that  early  time  seem  to  be 
as  ripe  and  as  free  from  boyish  crudities  as  the  productions  of  his  latter 
years.  Perhaps  much  of  this  effect  is  due  to  the  thoroughness  of  his  legal 
studies,  and  to  the  ardor  of  his  devotion  to  a  sober  and  methodical  profes- 
sion. .  But  it  is  noticeable  that  among  the  dusty  folios  of  the  law,  he  never 
lost  his  taste  for  the  graces  of  composition.  This  is  evinced  by  every 
thing  he  has  left  behind  him.  It  is  no  unusual  thing  to  meet  in  his  legal 
arguments  and  judicial  opinions,  flowers  of  rhetoric,  which,  in  such  places, 
almost  excite  exclamations  of  surprise. 

The  bent  of  his  mind  was  always  toward  large  views  of  the  questions 
that  were  brought  before  him.  He  seemed  to  take  pleasure,  not  in  avoid- 
ing difficulties  and  intricacies,  but  in  boldly  meeting  and  solving  them  It 
came  natural  to  him  to  rest  every  ca-e  upon  the  deepest  principles  involved 
in  it,  to  hold  it  firmly  on  them,  and  to  decide  it  by  them,  instead  of  send- 
ing it  off  on  some  shallow  quibble  or  mere  technicality.  If  there  was 
anything  in  a  case  that  went  down  into  the  depths  and  the  obscure  places 
of  the  law,  it  was  always  possible,  nay,  it  was  always  easy,  to  get  him  to 
see  and  acknowledge  the  fact,  and  to  guide  his  researches  and  reflections 
accordingly.  Many  of  his  briefs  as  counsel,  and  of  his  decisions  as  judge, 


1 86  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  ROBERTSON. 

have  attracted  attention  beyond  the  confines  of  ihe  State.  One  of  his 
most  celebrated  briefs  was  in  the  case  of  Russell  vs.  Southard,  which  he 
gained  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  Perhaps  the  most 
famous  of  his  earlier  decK-ions,  was  that  in  the  case  of  Dickey  vs.  the 
Maysville  and  Lexington  Turnpike  Road  Company.  Among  his  later 
decisions,  that  in  the  case  of  Griswold  vs.  Hepham,  in  regard  to  the  con- 
stitutionality of  the  legal-tender  act  passed  by  Congress,  is  the  most  con- 
spicuous. The  doctrines  laid  down  by  him  were  afterwards  affirmed  by 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

Judge  Robertson  was  a  man  of  warm  and  generous  impulses,  as  he 
showed  on  every  occasion  of  his  life.  Out  of  lo\e  for  his  family,  and  in 
order  that  he  might  do  the  more  for  them,  he  gave  up  his  seat  in  Congress 
and  devoted  himself  to  the  law.  Had  he  continued  in  the  field  of  national 
politics,  he  would,  no  doubt,  have  attained  the  most  exalted  positions;  for 
it  may  well  t*»  questioned,  justly  eminent  as  he  was  on  the  bench,  whether 
his  peculiar  gifts  of  mind  and  trait>  of  character  did  not  fit  him  for  a  states- 
man rather  than  a  judge,  despite  his  large  conscientiousness,  and  his 
elevated  sense  of  the  dignity  and  sanctity  of  his  ottlce  as  judge.  His  strong 
feelings,  to  some  extent,  controlled  him.  and  when  he  had  become  thor- 
oughly convinced  that  one  party  was  the  victim  of  fraud  or  injustice  he 
argued  for  him  almost  with  the  zeal  of  an  advocate.  He  was  an  ardent 
Whig,  and  the  enthusiastic  and  unfailing  friend  of  Henry  Clay,  by  whom 
he  stood  staunchly  throughout  all  of  that  statesman's  long  career,  and  over 
•whose  remains  he  pronounced  an  oration  of  mournful  regret  and  ten- 
derness. 

Hi-  signal  devotion  to  duty  can  have  no  clearer  or  more  more  touching 
illustration  than  in  the  circumstances  of  his  first  attack.  On  the  night  he- 
fore  the  morning  on  which  he  suffered  paraly-K  a  young  relative  occupied 
the  same  room  witl.  him,  as  was  customary,  in  order  to  watch  over  the 
hard-working  old  man.  In  the  morning  the  Judge  arose  very  early,  and 
began  his  accustomed  work.  He  sat  down  to  the  table  to  write  out  an 
opinion  in  some  decided  case.  His  stroke,  if  such  it  may  be  called,  was 
not  sudden,  but  astonishingly  gradual.  His  eyesight  began  to  grow  dim^ 
and  he  called  out  to  his  relative  that  such  was  t'.e  fact;  but  he  refused,  at 
the  remonstrance  of  the  latter,  to  give  up  his  work.  He  continued  to  work 
on  till  his  failing  eyes  could  no  longer  guide  his  hand,  and  the  written  lines 
growing  shorter  and  shorter,  narrowed  to  a  point;  the  strokes  of  hi>  pen 
grew  lighter,  dimmer,  illegible,  and  he  could  do  no  more.  He  insisted 
even  then,  however,  that  only  his  eyes  were  at  fault,  that  his  mental  facul- 
ties were  still  perfectly  sound,  as  was  no  doubt  the  truth,  and  begged  that 
he  might  be  carried  to  the  court-room  to  take  part  in  the  decision  of  (Met; 
so  he  fell  at  his  post,  and  literally  with  his  harness  on — a  pure  patriot,  an 
able,  upright  jurist,  a  noble  man.  He  is  no  longer  with  us,  for  \vlu>  : 

his  strength,  his  life  were  spent,  but  his  name  will  live  long  in  the  State  he 
loved  and  served.  His  labor  was  enduring — it  will  not  perish.  He  has 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  1 87 

done  more  for  Kentucky  jurisprudence,  more  to  give  it  form  within  the 
State  and  fame  abroad,  than  any  other  one  judge — perhaps  than  all  other 
judges  together,  that  have  ever  sat  in  the  Court  of  Appeals.  Possibly  his 
mere  words  may  die,  and  his  opinions,  as  such,  may  cease  to  be  cited;  pos- 
sibly the  day  may  come  when  his  name  will  be  spoken  no  more,  but  the 
principles  he  so  largely  helped  to  establish,  must  continue  to  exert  their 
influence  on  the  jurisprudence  of  our  State,  for  many  years  yet  to  come. 
Happy,  indeed,  was  he  in  his  destiny;  few  men  have  been  more  blessed  in 
the  fruitfulness  of  their  work,  or  the  richness  of  their  remuneration. 

Six  years  ago,  just  before  he  was  stricken  down  by  paralysis,  he  re- 
marked, in  conversation  with  a  triend,  that  the  longer  he  lived  the  more 
diffident  he  became  of  his  own  ability,  and  the  correctness  of  his  opinions 
He  explained  his  meaning  by  the  illustration  of  a  man  doomed,  at  first,  to 
live  in  the  bottom  of  a  well — his  horizon  is  circumscribed,  and  yet  he  im- 
agines he  sees  all  there  is  of  it;  but  as  he  gradually  climbs  up,  ihe  boundary 
of  his  horizon  is  expanded,  and  he  then  understands  how  much  is  to  be 
learned.  He  then  feels  as  Sir  Isaac  Newton  declares — like  he  was  stand- 
ing on  the  shore,  picking  up  an  occasional  pebble  now  and  then,  while  the 
great  ocean  of  truth  lay  all  unexplored  before  him.  He  had,  he  remarked 
on  the  same  occasion,  been  accused  of  making  law;  but  he  held  that  the 
common  law  was,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  progressive  science;  not  that  its 
principles  changed,  but  expanded  so  as  to  embrace  the  change  of  circum- 
stances. 

Judge  Robertson  was  long  the  only  survivor  of  the  Congress  that  passed 
the  Missouri  compromise  measures  in  1820.  He  had  indeed  come  down 
to  us  from  a  former  generation;  and  the  men  who  practiced  before  him, 
during  the  last  years  of  his  official  life,  were  the  sons  of  contemporaries, 
nearly  every  one  of  whom  have  pasted  away.  The  venerable  Thomas  A. 
Marshall,  of  this  city,  was  one  of  the  last  representatives  of  the  stirring 
times,  which  first  brought  the  men  of  the  last  generation  into  prominence 
— he  being  four  years  younger  than  Judge  Robertson. 

The  announcement  of  the  death  of  this  able  jurist,  comes  like  wailing 
over  the  State.  His  professional  course  was  marked  by  high  integrity  of 
purpose;  and  while  presiding  as  Judge  of  the  Appellate  Court,  he  enjoyed 
to  an  eminent  degree,  the  confidence  of  the  bar  and  of  the  public.  Of  him 
it  can  be  truly  said  that  he  died  full  of  years  and  of  honors.  Be  his  own 
motto  his  epitaph: 

No>i  sibi  scd  patriue. 

The  following  are  the  particulars  of  his  last  hours  and  death,  as  given  in 
a  special  dispatch  to  the  Courier-Journal,  dated  at  Lexington  the  i6th: — 
"Judge  George  H.  Robertson  died  at  precisely  10  o'clock  to-night,  after 
suffering  intensely  from  4  o'clock  this  morning.  He  was  taken  with  cramp 
last  Monday,  and  brought  very  low,  but  was  not  thought  to  be  dying  until 
to-day.  Since  this  morning  his  agony  was  so  intense  that  morphine  was 


1 38  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


administered,  but  failed  to  take  effect,  as  he  threw  it  up,  and  he  continued 
to  sink  rapidlv.  Rev.  Mr.  Dinwiddie,  his  former  pastor,  whose  church 
(the  First  Presbyterian)  he  joined  about  two  years  ago,  happened  to  be 
passing  through  town,  and  called  to  see  him,  this  morning.  He  was  with 
him  until  n  o'clock.  Judge  R.  expressed  himself  willing  and  ready  to  die, 
and  said  he  hoped  to  meet  his  pastor  in  a  better  world.  He  retained  con- 
sciousness up  to  about  9  o'clock  to-night,  when  he  became  speechless. 
However,  upon  his  daughter-in-law  asking  him  if  he  knew  her,  although 
he  could  not  articulate,  he  pressed  her  hand.  He  has  taken  great  interest 
in  religious  concerns  for  some  years  past,  and  last  night  asked  that  "  Rock 
of  Ages"  should  be  sung  for  him.  He  died  in  his  chair,  where  he  had 
lived  since  his  stroke  of  paralysis  two  are  three  years  ago,  and  looked  very 
little  emaciated  after  death.  His  body  will  be  kept,  according  to  his  re- 
quest, for  some  davs,  probably  a  week,  before  burial." 


JUDGE  GEORGE    ROBERTSON 

On  the  night  of  the  iCith  of  May.  in  the  city  of  Le\rngton,  surrounded 
by  family  and  friends,  peacefully  pas-cd  away  the  soul  of  George  Robert- 
son, a  name  so  indissolubly  linked  with  the  history  of  his  country  that, 
without  the  record  of  his  life,  it  would  be  incomplete. 

The  hand  of  death  was  not  laid  upon  him  unexpectedly.  His  great  age, 
and  a  stroke  of  parn lysis  visited  upon  him  two  years  before  his  death,  pre- 
pared him  for  approaching  dissolution.  And  yet  the  going  out  of  that 
light  that  had  been  so  long  shining  as  a  beacon  in  the  world  of  intellect, 
startled  us,  though  we  .-aw  the  trembling,  fitful  flash  of  the  expiring  flame, 
and  watched  its  feeble  efforts  to  survive. 

George  Robertson,  more  familiar  to  us  as  Judge  Robertson,  of  the  Ken- 
tucky Court  of  Appeals,  was  born  in  1790,  in  what  is  now  known  as 
Garrard  county,  then  a  part  of  Mercer.  He  inherited  a  robust  constitu- 
tion, which  was  never  impaired  by  the  indulgences  too  common  to  the 
youth  of  these  days.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  commenced  the  study  of  the 
law  at  Lancaster,  in  the  office  of  Martin  I).  Hardin.  That  he  was  singu- 
larlv  fitted  for  the  profession  which  he  selected,  his  after  life  gave  the  most 
convincing  proof. 

In  1809  he  married  Miss  Eleanor,  then  only  sixteen  years  of  age,  daugh- 
ter of  Dr.  Bainbridge,  of  Lancaster.  The  young  couple  had  many  things 
to  contend  with,  but  with  brave  hearts  they  fought  the  battle  with  the 
world,  and  triumphed.  The  promising  talents  of  the  young  lawyer  soon 
obtained  a  recognition  of  the  most  flattering  character.  In  1816,  though 
only  in  his  twenty-sixth  year,  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  and  again  in 
1818  and  iSjo.  He  did  not  serve  out  his  last  term,  however,  but  resigned 
before  taking  his  seat.  During  his  Congressional  career  he  distinguished 
himself  in  debate  upon  some  of  the  most  important  questions  that  at  that 
time  occupied  the  public  mind,  and  left  the  National  Legislature  with  a 
reputation  second  only  to  that  of  Henry  Clay.  But  a  more  important 


LIKE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  189 


duty  than  settling  the  status  of  territories  required  his  presence  at  home. 
At  that  time  the  great  struggle  for  constitutional  government  was  going 
on  in  his  own  State,  and  into  that  struggle  he  threw  himself  with  all  the 
ardor  of  his  impetuous  manhood,  and  brought  to  bear  in  defense  of  the 
constitution  all  the  powers  of  his  great  intellect  and  persuasive  oratory. 

He  was  elected  in  1822  to  represent  his  county  (Garrard)  in  the  State 
Legislature,  and  continued  to  represent  her  from  that  time  until  1826 — 
during  the  most  exciting  period  in  the  early  history  of  the  State. 

He  constantly  refused  positions  of  public  trust  at  the  hands  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, preferring  to  remain  at  home  in  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
and  advancing  the  interests  of  his  people.  In  1828  he  was  appointed  Sec- 
retary of  State  by  Governor  Metcalfe,  and  a  few  months  later  of  the  same 
year,  was  appointed  to  the  Appellate  Bench.  Subsequently  he  received 
the  commission  of  Chief  Justice,  which  position  he  held  until  1843,  when 
he  resigned.  Having  removed  to  the  county  of  Fayette,  he  was  elected 
a  Representative  to  the  State  Legislature  in  1851,  and  was  at  that  session 
chosen  Speaker  of  the  House  by  acclamation. 

The  war  coming  on  found  him  a  consistent  advocate  of  Union,  and  an 
unflinching  opponent  of  Secession.  Yet  he  was  moderate  in  the  expres- 
sion of  his  opinion,  and  was  rarely  to  be  found  on  the  side  of  the 
extremist.  In  1864  he  was  again  elected  to  the  Appellate  Bench  by  an 
almost  unanimous  uprising  of  the  people.  Hon.  Alvin  Duvall  had  re- 
ceived the  nomination  of  the  party,  but  it  becoming  known  some  days 
before  the  election  that  Gen.  Burbridge  and  his  bayonets  would  prevent 
the  casting  of  any  votes  for  Duvall,  the  people,  to  avoid  trouble,  nominated 
Judge  George  Robertson,  and  triumphantly  elected  him,  such  was  the  rev- 
erence the  people  had  for  his  virtue,  and  their  belief  in  his  incorruptible 
integrity. 

Judge  Robertson  retained  the  position  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  Appellate 
Court  until  1871.  At  the  inauguration  of  Governor  Leslie  he,  in  a 
short  and  painfully  impressive  speech,  and  with  halting  tones,  ten- 
dered his  resignation,  after  having  adminisistered  the  oath  of  office  to  the 
Governor. 

Immediately  after  this  solemn  act,  by  which  the  venerable  Judge  severed 
as  it  were,  his  active  connection  with  the  world,  a  committee  appointed 
by  the  Court  of  Appeals  drew  up  a  memorial  as  a  tribute  to  the  life  and 
public  services  of  the  great  Chief  Justice.  Says  the  report:  "As  he  put 
ofT  his  robes  of  office  and  pronounced  his  heartfelt  benediction  on  his  be- 
loved countrymen,  we  beheld  the  representative  of  a  race  of  intellectual 
giants.  It  was  allotted  him,  in  the  providence  of  God,  to  survive  them  all, 
with  the  solitary  exception  of  his  distinguished  and  venerable  compeer, 
Joseph  R.  Underwood.  Though  enfeebled  by  age,  and  wasted  by  disease, 
his  mind  seemed  to  be  active  and  vigorous  as  ever.  Having  finished  his 
course  and  won  for  himself  the  plaudit,  '  Well  done  thou  good  and  faithful 
servant,'  he  stepped  down  into  private  life  with  the  calm  dignity  of  the 
veteran  patriot  " 


I9O  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON7. 


The  immediate  cause  no  doubt  of  his  determination  to  resign  his  posi- 
tion as  Chief  Justice  was,  the  physical  incapacity  to  discharge  its  duties, 
having,  in  the  summer  of  1871,  been  struck  with  paralysis. 

For  sometime  before  his  death  he  became  completely  helpless,  but  the 
surest  evidence  of  the- fast  approaching  end.  was  a  loss  of  that  intellectual 
vigor  that  had  distinguished  him  above  all  men  with  whom  he  had  to  cope, 
either  in  the  Senate  or  the  forum.  Recognizing  the  approach  of  that  day 
when  he  should  appear  before  his  Maker.  Judge  Robertson  took  great 
interest  in  spiritual  matters  for  some  time  before  his  death,  and  frequently 
during  his  illness  solicited  the  visits  of  favorite  ch-rgymen,  whom  he  de- 
sired should  prav  with  him.  He  was  conscious  to  the  last,  and  died  with 
fault  in  his  Redeemer,  and  a  trusting  belief  in  his  salvation. 

Judge  Robertson  was  a  man  of  remarkable  native  talent,  an  untiring 
student,  and  possessed  with  a  singular  power  of  convincing  men.  In  every 
department  of  effort  in  which  he  was  called  to  serve,  he  distinguished  him- 
self. As  a  member  of  Congress  he  was  remarkable  for  his  ability  and 
mastery  of  the  details  of  legislation.  Hut  as  a  lawyer  he  far  outshone  all 
his  contemporaries.  It  was  in  this  profession  that  he  made  for  himself  an 
enduring  fame.  While  Chief  Ju.-tice  of  Kentucky  he  rendered  decisions 
that  have  no  superior  in  the  historv  of  jurisprudence,  and  are  quoted  as 
authority  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken 

To  a  peculiar  aptitude  for  research  anil  an  unwearving  industry,  lie 
united  a  mental  intrepidity  that  led  him,  whenever  in  his  judgment  he  saw 
proper,  to  disregard  dusty  precedents,  and  with  the  unfailing  and  unalter- 
able principles  of  truth  and  justice  to  guide  him,  to  delve  into  the  mysteries 
of  the  legal  science,  grapple  with  complex  problems,  and  evolve  theories 
of  jurisprudence  remarkable  for  their  force  and  brilliancy.  His  great  ana- 
lytical powers,  fine  perceptive  faculties,  and  breadth  of  view,  enabled  him 
to  conquer  difficulties  that  would  have  been  insurmountable  to  less  able 
men.  But  amid  all  the  technicalities  of  his  profession,  and  in  spite  of  his 
years  of  groping  among  the  dusty  tomes  of  law,  he  preserved  his  love  for 
the  flowers  ol  rhetoric,  and  in  some  of  his  decisions  are  to  be  found  pas- 
sages that  startle  the  reader  by  their  beauty  of  expression. 

The  Stale  of  Kentucky  was  justly  proud  of  her  distinguished  son.  In 
his  death  she  has  suffered  a  severe,  we  will  not  say,  an  irreparable  loss. 
He  contributed  to  her  fame,  and  to  her  judiciary  he  added  a  lustre  that  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  world.  She  will  honor  his  name;  the  nation 
will  honor  it,  and  when  the  student  of  her  history  turns  its  leaves  in  after 
veins,  he  will  find  no  name  more  deserving  of  enduring  memory  than  that 
of  Judge  George  Robertson. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  THE    LEXINGTON  BAR 

Judge  Hunt  having  taken  his  seat,  the  report  of  the  Committee  was  read 
by  Mr.  Kinkead,  as  follows: 

REPORT: 

The  members  of  the  Lexington  Bar  have  appointed  us  to  express  their 
sentiments  of  respect  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  George  Robertson 
who  died  at  his  residence,  in  this  city,  on  Saturday,  the  i6th  of  May,  1874, 
at  10  o'clock  P.  M. 

He  who  for  so  long  a  time  has  been  our  head  and  chief  has  fallen  at  last 
and  it  is  becoming  in  us  to  manifest  our  reverence  for  his  worth.  His  long 
list,  of  services,  beginning  with  the  early  years  of  our  Commonwealth,  and 
reaching  wdon  almost  to  the  present,  passes  before  our  minds;  and  on  a 
fitting  occasion  and  by  eloquent  lips,  these  shall  be  recounted  in  our  hear- 
ing to  his  countrymen.  Standing  now  in  the  presence  of  the  dead,  with 
the  opening  heavens  above  us,  it  seems  almo:t  out  of  place  to  look  back  to 
earth  and  to  earthly  objects  and  earthly  honors;  in  the  presence  of  immor- 
tality to  turn  to  the  mortal  and  perishing  scenes  around  us.  And  yet  ibis 
earth  of  ours  is  so  allied  to  heaven;  this  mortal  is  so  linked  with  immor- 
tality; those  of  us  who  remain  are  so  united  with  those  who  have  gone; 
the  deeds  of  this  world  cast  their  shadows  so  distinctly  on  the  world  be- 
yond, we  unconsciously  acknowledge  that  those  only  are  worthy  of  a 
crown  who  by  their  lives  have  exalted  virtue  and  made  her  lovely,  and 
who,  amid  the  passions  and  temptations  by  which  they  are  surrounded, 
have  kept  their  garments  undefileJ. 

It  was  said  of  an  eminent  man  of  old  that  he  had  done  things  worthy  to 
be  written;  that  he  had  written  things  worthy  to  be  read;  and  by  hU  li'e 
had  contributed  to  the  welfare  of  the  Republic  an.l  the  happiness  of  man- 
kind. He  on  whom  this  transcendent  eulogy  can  be  pronounced  with 
even  partial  truth,  is  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of  his  race.  During  the 
present  generation,  within  the  broad  limits  of  the  Commonwealth,  has 
there  died  a  man  over  whom  it  might  more  truthfully  be  said,  than  George 
Robertson? 

The  temptation  is  great,  the  materials  are  abundant,  but  this  is  not  the 
time  or  place  to  discourse  of  even  the  outlines  of  the  life  of  this  distin- 
guished man  His  early  days  of  poverty  and  hard  labor — his  lack  of  that 
early  education  and  discipline,  which,  while  it  did  not  hinder  him  from 
rising  rapidly  to  a  seat  among  the  highest,  by  the  force  of  his  natural  intel- 
lect, vet  shows  itself  in  all  his  after  life — the  conservative  character  of  his 
mind,  which  led  him  to  throw  himself  on  several  trying  occasions  at  differ- 
ent and  distant  periods — in  youth,  in  full  manhood,  and  in  old  age — on  the 
side  of  law  and  order  and  stable  government,  his  great  legal  and  constitu- 
tional learning  in  which,  for  more  than  half  a  century,  he  had  occupied'a 
front  seat  with  his  associates,  and  which  only  needed  a  broader  and  more 
conspicuous  theater,  with  its  controlling  and  stimulating  conflicts,  to  have 


lg2  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

made  his  reputation  coextensive  with  our  language;  his  ample  head;  his 
firm  mouth  indicating  a  strong  will  and  unbounded  confidence  in  his  pow- 
ers; sometimes  leading  him  too  far;  his  exquisite  and  subtle  intellect 
sometimes  deceiving  itself;  all  this  must  be  dwelt  on  to  make  their  proper 
impression  and  do  justice  to  so  remarkable  a  man.  Other  men  may 
have  had  excellencies  which  he  did  not  have;  other  men  may  have 
been  free  of  faults  which  he  had;  but  take  him  as  he  was,  with  all  his 
faults  and  all  his  virtues;  with  his  intellectual  strength  and  his  intellectual 
weakness,  Kentucky  has  produced  from  her  soil,  distinguished  as  many  of 
of  them  have  been  in  every  department  of  life,  no  son  whose  name  she 
will  inscribe  higher  in  her  list  of  worthies 

All  then,  that  remains  to  us  is  to  resolve  that  in  the  death  of  the  Hon. 
George  Robertson,  this  bar  feels  the  loss  of  one  of  Us  most  distinguished 
members,  and  one  of  its  most  pleasant  associates;  the  State  one  of  its 
most  valuable  citizens  and  friends;  that  from  a  sense  of  duty  to  the  pro- 
fession, of  which  h:  was  an  ornament,  of  gratitude  for  his  services  to  the 
Commonwealth,  as  well  as  to  satisfy  our  own  private  feelings,  we  bear  our 
testimony  to  his  great  ability,  to  his  extensive  learning  in  the  common  law 
as  in  equity  and  constitutional  law,  and  to  his  domestic,  no  less  than  to  his 
public  virtues. 


MISCELLANEOUS   EXTRACTS 

FROM  THE  WRITINGS  OF    JUDGE   ROBERTSON,   SHOWING   HIS  OPIN- 
IONS   ON    VARIOUS    SUBJECTS. 

GRIEF,  INDII.<;I:NCE  OF. 

That  is  a  false  and  pernicious  dignity  which  chills  ihe  warm  emotions 
of  the  heart,  or  hushes  the  soft  accents  of  nature's  voice.  Achilles  was 
never  so  attractively  interesting  as  when  agonizing  in  the  dust  for  the 
death  of  Patroclus;  nor  did  the  aged  Priam  ever  appear  so  amiable,  as 
when,  with  trembling  frame  and  streaming  eyes,  he  begged  the  lifeless 
body  of  his  son  Hector.  These  were  nature's  doings,  and  among  her 
proudest  achievements;  exhibiting,  in  the  one  case,  the  most  impetuous  of 
heroes,  tamed  and  subdued  by  the  tenderness  of  a  holy  friendship,  and.  in 
the  other,  the  majesty  of  a  King  mildly  mingled  with  the  tenderness  of  a 
kind  father.  You  remember  the  stern  r\nd  towering  Pvrrhus — being  re- 
buked for  the  unstoical  weakness  of  shedding  tears  for  the  death  of  his 
wife,  and  urged  to  assume  the  aspect  of  a  Philosopher  unmoved,  he  ex- 
claimed— "Oh,  Philosophy!  yesterday  thou  commandest  me  to  love  my 
wife — to-day  thou  forbiddest  me  to  lament  for  her!"  And  being  told  that 


LIFE   OF   GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


193 


tears  could  not  restore  her,  he  replied— "Alas!  that  reflection  only  makes 
them  flow  faster." 

The  reasonable  indulgence  of  the  affections  and  emotions  of  the  heart  is 
not  only  happying  but  meliorating,  and  is  one  of  nature's  expedients  for 
civilizing  mankind,  and  saving  them  from  selfishness  and  vice.     The  most 
wise  and   honored   should  always  act  as  rational  men,  and    never  rebel 
against  Heaven,  or  commit  treason  against  nature,    by  attempting  to  de- 
stroy or   to  conceal  those  emotions  which  belong  to  the  wisest  and  best  of 
men,  for  the  wisest  and  best  of  ends.     Let  them  then  be  enjoyed  and  acted 
out  in  a  becoming  manner  by  the  most  exalted  of  our  race,  as  long  as  they 
wish  to  be  considered  as  men.     Such  a  course  secures  the  intellectual  Sun 
from  eclipse,  disrobes  knowledge  of  the  cold  and  mystic  cloud  of  pride  and 
hypocrisy,  and  presents  it  in  all  the  simplicity  and  radiance  of  its  native 
grace  and  intrinsic  loveliness.     He  who  never  seems  to  feel,  either  never 
feels  at  all,  or  as  man  ought  to  feel;  and  others  will  never  feel  much  affec- 
tion or  respect  for  him.     But  in  the  tender  sympathies  of  pure  hearts,  there 
is  "a  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory" — and  remember, 

"The  path  of  sorrow,  and  that  path  alone, 
Li'.ids  to  the  land  where  sorrow  is  unknown." 


LITERARY    FAME. 

The  classical  reader  remembers  that,  when  almost  all  the  Greeks,  cap- 
tured with  Nicias  at  Syracuse,  had  died  in  dungeons,  a  remnant  of  the 
survivors  saved  themselves  by  the  recitation  of  beautiful  extracts  from 
Euripides.  How  potent  was  the  shadowed  genius  of  the  immortal  Athe- 
nian, when  it  alone  melted  the  icy  hearts  that  nothing  else  could  touch, 
and  broke  the  captive's  chains,  which  justice,  and  prayers,  and  tears,  had 
in  vain  tried  to  unloose?  And  hence  "the  glory  of  Euripides  had  all 
Greece  for  a  monument."  He  too  was  elevated  by  the  light  of  other 
minds.  It  is  said  that  he  acquired  a  sublime  inspiration  whenever  he  read 
Homer — whose  Iliad  and  whose  Odyssey — the  one  exhibiting  the  fatality 
of  strife  among  leading  men — the  other  portraying  the  efficacy  of  perse- 
verance— have  stamped  his  name  on  the  roll  of  fame  in  letters  of  sunshine, 
that  will  never  fade  away.  No  memorial  tells  where  Troy  once  stood — 
Delphi  is  now  mute — the  thunder  of  Olympus  is  hushed,  and  Apollo's  lyre 
no  longer  echoes  along  the  banks  of  the  Peneus-^-but  the  fame  of  Homer 
still  travels  with  the  stars. 


TIME    AND    CHANGE. 

Time  builds  on  the  ruins  itself  has  made.  It  destroys  to  renew,  and 
desolates  to  improve.  A  wise  and  benevolent  Providence  has  thus  marked 
its  progress  in  the  moral,  as  well  as  in  the  physical  world.  The  tide  which 
has  borne  past  generations  to  the  ocean  of  eternity,  is  hastening  to  the 
same  doom  the  living  mass  now  gliding  downward  to  that  shoreless  and 
12 


1 94  LIFE   OF   GEORGE   ROBERTSON. 

unfathomed  reservoir.  But  whilst  the  current,  in  its  onward  flow,  sweeps 
awAv  all  that  should  perish,  like  the  Nile,  it  refreshes  every  desert,  and 
fructifies  every  wild  through  which  it  rolls;  and,  fertilizing  one  land  with 
the  spoils  of  another,  it  deposits  in  a  succeeding  age  the  best  seeds  matured 
by  the  toil  of  ages  gone  before.  Asia  has  thus  been  made  tributary  to 
Africa  and  to  the  younger  Europe,  ancient  to  modern  times,  and  the  mid- 
dle ages  to  the  more  hallowed  days  in  which  we  ourselves  live.  One 
generation  dies  that  another  may  live  to  take  its  place.  The  desolation  of 
one  country  has  been  the  renovation  of  another — the  downfall  of  one  sys- 
tem has  been  the  ultimate  establishment  of  a  better — and  the  ruin  of 
nations  has  been  the  birth  or  regeneration  of  others,  both  wiser  and  hap- 
pier. The  stream  of  moral  light,  with  a  western  destinati  n  from  tin- 
beginning,  has,  in  all  its  meanderings,  increased  its  volume,  until,  swollen 
hv  the  contributions,  and  enriched  by  the  gleamings  of  ages,  jt  has  poured 
its  flood  on  the  cis-atlantic  world. 


ENGLAND. 

The  fast  anchored  Isle — the  natal  land  of  our  fathers,  and  the  mother  <> 
our  common  law — has  done  much  for  mankind.  But  she  too  lias  had  her 
scenes  of  civil  strife  and  of  blood — her  Wakelield,  her  Smithrteld,  and  her 
Bosworthfield;  she  has  had  her  Tudors,  and  her  Stuarts,  her  JeH'reys,  her 
Bonner,  and  her  Cromwell,  as  well  a-*  her  Svdney,  her  L'ramner,  and  her 
Ilampden;  and,  after  ages  of  reformation  in  Church  and  State,  her  aris- 
tocracy still  governs,  her  Hierarchy  still  prevails,  and  the  harp  of  Krin 
hangs  tuneless  and  sad  on  the  leafless  bough  of  her  blasted  oak. 

The  British  constitution  lack^  the  soul  of  a  fundamental  la\v.  It  lias  no 
ether  political  guaranty  or  principle  of  vitality  than  the  pleasure  of  King, 
Lords  and  Commons,  in  Parliament  assembled.  An  act  of  Parliament 
inconsistent  with  the  constitution,  is  nevertheless  the  supreme  law,  and,  in 
the  language  of  Mr.  Hallam,  the  utmost  that  can  be  said  of  it  is  that  it  is 
— "a  novelty  of  much  importance,  tending  to  endanger  the  established 
laws."  The  constitution  of  England,  venerable  as  it  is,  can  he  found  only 
in  the  statutes  and  political  history  of  that  distinguished  Isle.  Such  a  gov- 
ernment could  not  stand  in  siuh  a  country  as  ours,  or  in  any  country 
where  there  is  an  approximation  towards  practical  equality  in  the  rights 
and  the  condition  of  the  people.  And,  though  in  England,  the  inherent 
imbecility  of  which  we  are  speaking  has  been  hitherto,  in  some  measure, 
supplied  by  artificial  expedients,  yet,  if  her  institutions  shall  become  much 
more  popular  in  their  texture,  her  constitution  must  become  the  supreme 
law,  and  its  practical  supremacy  must  be  secured  by  other  guaranties  than 
any  now  provided,  or,  otherwise,  dissolution  must  be  inevitable.  A  landed 
aristocracy,  the  stock  in  an  irredeemable  national  debt — the  rival  interests 
of  the  crown,  and  nobility,  and  hierarchy,  and  commonality,  cannot  ahvavs 
preserve  a  safe  and  stable  equilibrium.  The  spirit  of  this  age  will,  if  it  go 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


on,  require  other  and  more  comprehensive  expedients.  Liberalism  and 
rationalism  are  abroad  in  the  world;  and  all  institutions  of  men  must, 
sooner  or  later,  feel  and  acknowledge  their  plastic  influence. 


HENRY    CLAY. 

In  this  sacred  and  august  presence  of  the  illustrious  dead,  were  an  eulo- 
gistic speech  befitting  the  occasion,  it  could  not  be  made  by  me.  I  could 
not  thus  speak  over  the  dead  body  of  HENRY  CLAY.  Kentucky  ex- 
pects not  me,  nor  any  other  of  her  sons,  to  speak  his  eulogy  now,  if  ever. 
She  would  leave  that  grateful  task  to  other  States,  and  to  other  times. 
His  name  needs  not  our  panegyric.  The  carver  of  his  own  fortune — the 
founder  of  his  own  name — with  his  own  hands  he  has  built  his  own  mon- 
ument, and  with  his  own  tongue  and  his  own  pen,  he  has  stereotyped  his 
autobiography.  With  hopeful  trust  his  maternal  Common  wealth  con- 
signs his  fame  to  the  justice  of  history,  and  to  the  judgment  of  ages  to 
come.  His  ashes  he  bequeathed  to  her,  and  they  will  rest  in  her  bosom 
until  the  judgment  day;  his  fame  will  descend — as  the  common  heritage  of 
his  country — to  every  citizen  of  that  Union,  of  which  he  was  thrice  the 
triumphant  champion,  and  whose  genius  and  value  are  so  beautifully  illus- 
trated by  his  life. 


THE  REORGANIZING  ACT. 

He  never  sought  office,  he  never  shrank  from  duty;  and  shall  his  coun- 
try give  him  up  to  his  and  her  enemies?  Let  such  folly  never  mark  her 
counsels — let  such  ingratitude  never  sully  her  escutcheon.  He  stands  in 
the  breach  which  ambition  has  made  in  the  constitution ;  and  whenever  he 
falls  a  victim  to  your  rapacity,  his  country's  cause  and  his  country's 
welfare  will  fall  with  him.  Whenever  he  is  immolated  to  satiate  your 
vengeance,  the  incense  which  ascends  from  the  altar  of  his  sacrifice  will 
be  mingled  with  the  smoke  of  a  consumed  constitution.  Around  his  des- 
tiny, in  this  crisis,  that  of  the  constitution  is  indissolubly  entwined.  He 
stands  on  the  last  rampart  which  protects  the  constitution  from  your  Val- 
dai assaults.  If  you  can  strike  him  down  and  pass  this  barrier,  you  at  once 
enter  the  citadel  and  give  it  up  to  violence.  Your  will  is  then  the  consti- 
tution. At  such  a  catastrophe,  the  patriot  might  indeed  exclaim,  "O 
tempora,  O  mores!"  And  then  it  would  be  but  right  and  natural  fora 
Boyle,  like.  Scipio  Africanus,  in  the  fervor  of  a  holy  resentment,  to  be- 
queath his  curses  to  the  ungrateful  country  which  he  had  so  faithfully 
served  and  so  long  illustrated,  and  his  ashes,  to  strangers,  in  the  memo- 
rable epitaph,  "O,  UNGRATEFUL  COVNTRY!  THOU  SHALT  NOT  HAVE 
MY  BONES!"  But  he  will  never  be  driven  to  this  sad  extremity.  Ken- 
tucky will  not  be  reproached  with  the  ungrateful  neglect  of  a  Uellisarius, 
or  the  exile  of  an  Aristides.  Boyle  and  the  constitution  will  hold  out  to 
the  last. 


196  LIFE    OF   GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


MILITARY  CHIEFTAINS. 

Military  renown  has  been  fatal  to  liberty.  Washington  was  "a  military 
chief" — But  there  has  been  only  one  Washington.  The  name  of  our  dead 
Washington  is  worth  irore  to  us  than  all  the  living  Washington's  in  the 
world.  It  was  not  his  victories  in  the  field,  but  his  victory  over  himself, 
that  lifted  Washington  above  all  other  men. 


DEMAGOGUES. 

His  public  life  illustrates  the  difference  between  the  statesman  and  the 
politician — between  the  enlightened  patriot  who  goes  for  the  welfare  and 
honor  of  his  country,  in  defiance  of  all  considerations  of  personal  ease  or 
aggrandizement,  and  the  selfish  demagogue,  who,  always  feeling  the  peo- 
ples' pulse  or  looking  at  the  weathercock  of  the  popular  breath,  counts,  as 
the  chief  good  on  earth,  his  own  exaltation,  by  any  means,  to  some  office 
or  trust  which  he  is  not  qualified  to  fill  with  honor  to  himself,  or  advantage 
to  the  public. 


She  too  had  her  demagogues,  and  the  "Aft//V.v/v  of  ///<•  A'OHIUM  people" 
was  their  watchword.  And  though  she  had  her  Fabricius,  her  Regulus, 
her  Cato,  her  Cicero — she  had  also  her  Clodius,  and  her  Sylla,  and  her 
Cicsars,  honored  in  their  day  as  the  friends  of  the  people;  and  whether 
Marius  or  Sylla,  Ca-sar  or  Pompey  prevailed,  the  victory  was  in  the  name 
of  liberty,  the  Republic  was  honored  with  a  triumph,  and  a  clamor  of  ap- 
probation echoed  from  the  Forurn  to  the  Capitol.  Even  Augustus  Ca-sar, 
absolute  as  he  was,  preserved  the  forms  of  a  Republic,  whilst,  by  the  per- 
version of  his  vast  patronage  to  his  own  aggramli/ement,  he  made  an 
obsequious  and  prostituted  Senate  the  Registers  of  his  will,  and,  in  the 
name  of  liberty,  fastened  a  heavy  yoke  forever  on  an  applauding  populace. 


A  demagogue  is  a  sycophantic  parasite — a  servile  tool — a  slave  at  the 
feet  of  power.  And,  though  the  object  of  his  idolatry  is  not  a  titled  king, 
yet  he  fawns  at  the  feet  of  a  Brianen  monarch,  an  excitable  multitude,  on 
whose  credulity,  vanity  and  passions,  he  plays  with  all  the  dexterity  of  an 
artful  courtier.  A  member  of  the  American  Congress  should  be  an  Amer- 
ican statesman — not,  like  Burke  or  Cato,  too  tenacious  of  abstract  truth 
to  do  whatever  may  he  practically  best;  but — enlightened  by  proper 
knowledge,  and  animated  by  a  true  American  heart,  throbbing  for  his 
whole  country — always  doing  that  which  he  believes  to  be  best  for  that 
country  in  all  time.  Such  a  public  servant  is  a  public  blessing  and  will 
always  be  honored,  even  in  exile.  The  opposite  character  will  be  a  curse 
to  any  people,  and  his  posthumous  doom  will  be— infamy. 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  197 


THE  PEOPLE  HONEST. 

Motives  of  ambition  may  prompt  you;  the  people  feel  none  such.  It 
may  be  your  interest  to  do  wrong;  it  is  always  theirs  to  do  right.  This 
is  proven  by  the  nature  and  the  very  existence  of  our  free  institutions,  and 
is  fortified  by  our  experience.  If  these  evidences  of  popular  rectitude  are 
not  satisfactory  to  you,  allow  me  to  add  the  authority  of  a  great  name. 
In  Cato's  letters  you  may  find  on  this  subject  the  following  just  and  en- 
lightened sentiments: 

"  It  is  certain  that  the  people,  if  left  to  themselves,  do  generally,  if  not 
always,  judge  well.  They  have  their  five  senses  in  as  great  perfection  as 
have  those  who  would  treat  them  as  if  they  had  none.  And  there  is 
oftener  found  a  great  genius  carrying  a  pitchfork  than  carrying  a  white 
staff. 

"The  people  have  no  bias  to  be  knaves.  No  ambition  prompts  them; 
they  have  no  rivals  for  place,  no  competitors  to  pull  down;  they  have  no 
darling  child,  pimp,  or  relation  to  raise;  they  have  no  occasion  for  dissim- 
ulation or  intrigue;  they  can  serve  no  end  by  faction;  they  have  no  interest 
but  the  general  interest." 


OFFICE  SEEKING. 

With  Epaminondas,  neither  seek  nor  decline,  on  account  of  their  im- 
puted dignity,  places  of  public  trust;  and  always  remember  his  maxim 
that  it  is  not  the  station,  but  the  manner  in  which  is  is  filled,  which  gives 
dignity  and  honor. 


LAWS  YIELD    TO  MANNERS. 

Manners  have  always  governed,  and  will  ever  govern  laws.  The  history 
of  all  nations  and  ages  of  the  world  echoes  the  sentiment  of  Horace,  Quid 
leges  sine  moribus  vuna-  proficient! — and  proves  beyond  question  that, 
without  proper  education  and  moral  principles  and  habits,  all  the  pomp 
and  circumstance  of  the  most  magnificent  civil  and  ecclesiastical  establish- 
ments, and  all  the  laws,  however  numerous  and  good,  which  legislative 
wisdom  could  enact,  will  be  insufficient  for  preserving  order  and  maintain- 
ing justice  among  men.  Montesque  announced  a  self-evident  truth  when 
he  said,  that  "the  laws  of  education  are  the  first  we  receive,  and  should  have 
respect  to  the  principle  and  spirit  of  the  government  we  live  under.''  And 
we  need  not  look  to  China  or  Confucius,  or  to  Sparta,  or  to  Lycurgus  for 
an  exemplification — we  may  find  it  in  every  age  of  the  civilized  world. 
Plautus  and  others  complained  that,  at  Rome,  manners  prevailed  over  the 
laws  long  before  the  destruction  of  the  commonwealth,  which  fell  in  the 
struggle  between  Caesar  and  Pompey  for  the  prize  of  empire: — and  it  was 
not  Cajsar,  but  the  degeneracy  of  a  self-confident,  luxurious,  and  flattered 


198  LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


populace  that  brought  the  Roman  Republic  to  its  fatal  end.  We  read  in 
Tacitus  that  "  good  manners  did  more  with  the  Germans  than  good  laws 
in  other  countries;"  ind  in  Lord  Bacon,  that  "it  is  an  old  complaint  that 
Governments  have  been  too  attentive  to  laws  while  ,thev  have  neglected 
the  business  of  education,"  and  gaining,  and  tippling,  and  swearing,  and 
other  fashionable  vices,  is  only  a  partial  illustration  of  the  ancient  maxim 
leges  moribns  srrz'icut — "the  laws  give  way  to  manners  " 


EDUCATION  OF  THE  POOR. 

The  rich,  it  is  true,  can  educate  themselves;  but  the  poor,  and  those  in 
moderate  circumstances,  must  depend,  in  a  great  measure,  for  the  means 
of  information,  upon  the  care  and  assistance  of  a  parental  government. 
Hence,  the  propriety  of  legislative  interposition  and  patronage  By  the 
tu'elar  assistance  of  the  State,  inanv  a  brilliant  mind,  otherwise  destined 
to  languish  in  obscurity,  may  be  brought  forth  and  expanded;  many  an 
humble  individual,  other  wise  without  the  means  of  cultivation  and  improve- 
ment, may  be  rendered  an  ornament  and  benefactor  of  mankind,  and 
enabled  to  "pluck  from  the  lofty  clitV  its  deathless  laurel." 


CONSTITUTION,  SHOULD  BE  INVIOLATE. 

This  Constitution  establishes  justice  and  guarantees  civil  liberty  Its 
power  is  altogether  moral.  Its  efficiency  consists  in  the  public  sentiment 
of  its  inviolability.  The  soul  which  animates  it  is  the  people's  reverence. 
The  cement  which  holds  its  parts  together  is  the  people's  virtue  and  intel- 
ligence. The  citixen  should  hold  the  Constitution  as  the  Christian  does 
the  decalogue,  sacred  and  inviolable.  It  is  worthy  of  his  most  sincere 
homage,  and  requires  his  most  resolute  and  persevering  support.  Every 
violation  will  encourage  recurrent  violations;  and  thus  its  value  will  be 
diminished,  and  its  principles  rendered  inoperative.  As  long  as  the  people 
and  their  functionaries  venerate  the  Constitution  in  all  its  parts,  justice  is 
secure  and  liberty  is  safe;  the  poor  man  may  live  in  peace,  and  work  with 
the  buoyancy  of  hope  and  the  confidence  of  security.  But  only  sanction 
or  connive  at  one  violation  of  the  Constitution,  and  it  inspires  hope  and 
confidence  no  longer.  While  it  exists,  its  motto  is,  "  nolo  me  tanffere" 
(touch  me  not.)  Like  virgin  purity,  once  sullied,  it  loses  its  chaste  odor 
and  its  charms,  and  invites  its  own  prostitution.  Extinguish  onlv  one 
spark  of  the  vestal  fire  which  burns  0:1  its  altar,  and  the  desecrated  flame 
is  no  longer  holy;  it  degenerates  into  the  common  element,  and  is  no  more 
sacred  or  enduring.  If  one  violation  be  tolerated,  another  is  justified  by 
the  example;  usage  ripens  into  law;  and  the  whole  Constittuion  is  super- 
seded. 


LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  199 

RIGHTS  OF  THE  MAJORITY. 

The  right  of  the  majority  to  control  the  minority  is  derived  from  nature, 
and  is  speculatively  just  and  unexceptionable;  but  not  always  practically 
proper.  In  regulating  the  afi'airs  of  society,  the  majority  has  an  undenia- 
ble right  to  control  the  minority,  unless  when  prohibited  by  the  terms  of 
the  social  compact,  or  the  constitution.  But,  as  in  a  state  of  nature  the 
weak  man  has  no  security  against  the  violence  of  the  strong,  nor  the  minor 
against  the  unjust  dominion  of  the  major  party,  it  becomes  necessary  that 
government  should  be  established,  with  such  organization  as  to  guarantee 
the  equal  rights  of  all  Constitutions  are  made  for  the  weak,  not  the 
strong;  for  minorities,  not  majorities;  majorities  can  protect  themselves. 
Hence  the  necessity  of  adopting  principles  which  even  majorities  cannot 
violate.  It  is  not  only  the  sole  object,  but  the  essence  of  a  constitution, 
that  the  stronger  man,  and  the  stronger  party,  shall  be  interdicted  from 
encroachment  on  the  guaranteed  rights  of  the  weaker  man,  and  the  weaker 
party.  By  what  system  of  government  this  great  end  could  be  most  cer- 
tainly eiTected,  without  unnecessarily  impairing  the  liberty  of  the  people, 
has  been  the  subject  of  discussion  and  experiment  for  ages;  and  it  has  been 
reserved  for  modern  times  to  discover  the  secret,  which  is  developed  in 
the  American  constitutions. 

A  truly  free  governm'ent  is  one  in  which  justice  predominates  over  pow- 
er, and  right  over  might.  No  government  is  free  or  equal  in  which  power 
is  justice,  and  might  is  right,  although  that  power  is  the  authority  of  num- 
bers, and  that  might  is  their  physical  force. 


CONSTITUTION  DEFINED. 

A  constitution  is  a  fundamental  law,  fixing  the  manner  in  which  the 
public  will  shall  be  expressed,  and  the  national  authority  shall  be  exercised. 
An  unmixed  democracy  cannot  practically  exist.  Under  such  a  form  of 
government,  the  sovereign  power  will  be  assumed  by  demagogues  or 
usurped  by  force. 

Therefore,  for  the  purpose  of  wisely  enacting  and  justly  administering 
laws,  the  power  of  the  whole  people  must  be  delegated,  in  some  mode,  to 
a  part.  And  the  organic  law,  which  prescribes  the  mode  of  delegation 
and  defines  the  power,  and  fixes  the  responsibility  of  the  public  agents,  is, 
whether  written  or  unwritten,  express  or  implied,  the  Constitution  of  the 
State. 


INSTRUCTING   REPRESENTATIVES. 

But  a  pestilent  exotic  has  already  taken  deep  root  in  the  heart  of  the 
constitution;  and,  if  it  live  and  grow,  it  will  paralyze  the  organic  life  of 
that  unequalled  political  structure.  Its  germ,  planted  by  ambition,  has 


2OO  LIFE   OF   GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

been  watered  by  charlatanism,  and  nourished  by  egotism.  The  Dema- 
gogue feeds  on  it;  and,  like  the  serpent's  charm,  it  fascinates  and  decoys 
but  too  many  of  multitudes,  who  do  not  understand  the  spirit  and  object 
of  the  constitution,  and  have  only  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  philoso- 
phy of  organi/ed  liberty.  It  is  called,  "the  right  of  instruction" — a  popular 
name,  which  imports  that  it  is  the  political  duty  of  the  members  of  each 
branch  of  Congress  to  echo,  by  their  votes,  the  known  will  of  their  elect- 
ors. The  sole  argument  in  support  of  this  seductive  heresy,  though  to  the 
superficial  thinker  quite  specious,  will  not  stand  the  test  of  severe  scrutiny. 
Its  postulate  is  the  assumption  that  the  representative  is  only  the  substitute 
of  his  electoral  constituents;  and'the  conclusion  is,  that  he  should,  there- 
fore, as  their  agent,  represent  their  will. 

It  Congress  must  speak  as  the  majoritv  feels,  all  the  wonderful  machine- 
ry of  our  National  Government,  organi/ed  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  the 
motive  power  of  public  sentiment,  often  as  explosive  a-  steam,  would,  in 
time,  he  rendered  powerless,  and  the  transient  passions  and  delusions  of 
the  majoiity,  instead  of  their  deliberate  reason  and  final  judgment,  would 
reign  unchecked,  and  soon  drive  to  anarchy,  revolution,  and  ruin.  To 
avert  such  a  catastrophe  was  the  object,  and  is  yet  the  hope,  of  our  funda- 
mental distribution  and  organi/ation  of  the  power  of  ruling  majorities. 
But  the  popular  doctrine  of  instructions  is  a  cormorant  in  the  tree  of  life, 
and  if  long  permitted  to  live  and  feed,  will  surely  make  it  fruitless,  sapless 
— dead. 

The  only  constitutional  power  the  electoral  constituency  can  ha\  e,  or 
ought  to  have,  over  a  member,  is  that  moral  influence  arising  from  sym- 
pathy, and  his  responsibility  to  censorship.  They  can  neither  remove  nor 
otherwise  control  him  during  bis  term. 


NULLIFICATION. 

Then  it  is  not  true,  that  the  States,  in  their  sovereign  political  capacity- 
alone,  made  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  are  the  only  parties 
to  it — it  is  not  true  that,  und.-r  that  constitution,  thev  retain  independent 
and  plenary  sovereignty — it  is  not  true  that,  for  deciding  between  them 
and  the  general  government,  or  any  portion  of  the  people  and  the  govern- 
ment, there  is  "no  common  judge"  provided  by  themselves  in  their  charter 
of  Union — it  is  indisputably  not  true,  therefore,  that  "each  party  has  a 
right  to  judge  for  itself  as  to  infractions,  as  well  as  the  mode  of  redress." 
And,  consequently,  the  first  of  the  resolutions  of  "08,  the  only  foothold  of 
nullification,  or  of  secession,  evaporates  in  detonating  and  pestilent  gas. 


OBLIGATION   OF  A  CONTRACT. 

"Obligation,"  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  means  what  it 
does  elsewhere,  and  what  it  imported  in  common  use  at  the  time  it  was 
inserted.  To  oblige  is  to  bind,  force,  coerce,  &C.  The  derivative,  "ohli- 


LIFE   OF   GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  2OI 

gation,"  is  the  binding,  forcing  power  or  quality  of  the  thing.  It  is  defined 
by  Justinian  to  be  the  ligament  which  binds,  and  by  Pothier  to  be  "t>/'«- 
culum  juris"  or  bond,  or  tie,  or  chain  of  right;  a  moral  obligation  or  liga- 
ment is  defined  to  be  that  which  tiinds  the  conscience,  which  is  the  law  of 
nature;  and  a  legal  obligation,  of  course,  that  which  binds  in  or  by  civil 
law.  Tbe  obligation  of  a  contract  is  that  which  induces,  compels,  or  en» 
sues  its  enforcement.  It  is  not  the  instrument  or  agent  by  -which  it  is 
coerced,  but  the  right  tvhich  the  obligee  has  to  use  coercion,  that  is  the  es- 
sence of  the  obligation.  This  is  either  moral  or  legal,  and  generally  both. 
When  there  is  no  municipal  law,  which  will  compel  the  performance  of 
an  engagement,  that  which  induces  the  performance,  is  the  natural  law, 
and  is  called  the  moral  obligation,  which  is  either  internal  or  external,  im- 
perfect or  perfect.  It  is  internal  when  conscience  is  the  only  persuasive 
or  coercive  power. 

The  legal  obligation  of  every  contract  is,  therefore,  THE  RIGHT  OF  THE 

CONTRACTING     PARTIES    TO    COMICE    EACH    OTHER  BY  LAW,    and   thereby 

obtain  indemniiv;  and  any  thing  which  WEAKENS,  POSTPONES,  OR  IM- 
PAIRS THAT  RIGHT,  necessarily  IMPAIRS  THAT  OBLIGATION. 


THE  COMMON  LAW. 

The  common  law  is  an  unwritten  code  of  matured  reason,  of  obscur 
origin  in  times  of  great  antiquity,  in  the  north  of  Europe  and  in  England 
— the  offspring  chiefly  of  the  feudal  system — the  companion  and  friend  of 
civil  liberty,  strengthened  by  age.  and  improved  and  improving  with  the 
progress  of  civilization  and  of  human  knowledge.  It  is  found  only  in  the 
reports  of  adjudged  cases,  in  elementary  law  books,  and  in  the  enlightened 
judgment  of  mankind.  It  is  practical  reason,  rectified  and  recognized  by 
the  experience  of  ages,  and  modified  by  analogies,  and  by  changing  cir- 
cumstances. 


EQUITY. 

Although  law  and  equity  are  generally  contradistinguished,  the  one  from 
the  other,  yet,  when  considered  with  proper  precision,  they  are  essentially 
identical  in  principle.  Equity  is  law — otherwise  it  would  be  inconsistent 
with  that  certainty  and  security  in  the  administration  of  civil  affairs  which 
the  supremacy  of  laws  can  alone  ensure.  Equity  is  justice  too;  but  it  is 
justice  in  a  peculiar  and  technical  sense;  not  variable,  like  the  changing 
sentiments  o*  the  chancellor  or  the  multitude,  but  as  constant  as  the  fixed 
and  rational  principles  of  civil  right  and  civil  law.  In  a  judicial  sense 
tnat  cannot  be  equitable  which  is  inconsistent  with  the  law  of  the  land. 
In  the  proper  sense,  a  court  of  equity  can  neither  make  nor  abrogate  any 
rule  of  law;  nor  enforce  what  the  law  forbids;  nor  relieve  from  that  which 
the  law  enjoins;  nor  decide  otherwise  than  according  to  the  principle  and 
spirit  of  established  law;  nor  interpret  a  contract  or  a  statute  so  as  to  give 
13 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


to  either  an  import  difierent  from  that  which  should  be  ascribed  to  it  by 
4ny  other  judicial  tribunal — the  intention  of  the  contracting  parties  is  their 
contract,  and  the  intention  of  the  Legislature  is  the  law  in  every  forum, 
and  should,  in  all,  be  sought  and  determined  according  to  the  same  princi- 
ples and  tests.  In  all  these  particulars,  and  in  every  essential  respect. 
equity  is  law,  and  law  is  equity;  and  each,  therefore,  is  justice  according 
to  the  principles  of  civil  right  and  obligation.  Equity  is  but  the  philosophy 
of  law — the  spirit  and  end  of  the  law;  and  it  may  therefore  be,  not  inaptly, 
defined  to  be  rectified  law  administered  in  England  by  the  lord  chancel- 
lor, one  of  the  king's  ministers,  and  by  subordinate  courts  of  chancerv.  and 
in  the  most  of  the  States  of  the  North  American  Union  by  courts  of  equity) 
in  peculiar  modes,  better  adapted  to  the  ends  of  perfect  justice,  than  the 
technical  and  imperfect  remedies  but  too  strictly  adhered  to  in  those  ordi- 
nary tribunals  called  "common  /</::•  court.*." 


THE    VETO    POWKK. 

The  qualified  veto  here  i-  practically  an  ab*<>Iute  veto.  No  President 
has  yet  been  overruled  by  the  constitutional  two  thirds — and  no  President 
who  knows  how  to  exercise  power  for  the  -.mister  purpose  of  increasing 
his  influence,  ever  will  be.  Had  our  fathers  of  '88  foreseen  or  seriously 
apprehended  such  a  result,  they  never  would  have  permitted  the  \r 
left  it  unmuzzled  and  omniverous  as  it  may  be  likely  to  become.  Thev  in- 
tended to  bridle  it  so  as  to  keep  it.  in  the  constitutional  track,  and  their 
journal  and  debates  show  that  they  intended  to  preserve  Congress  from 
the  vortex  of  Executive  patronage,  by  declaring  its  members  ineligible  to 
anv  other  place  of  public  tru*f.  which  could  be  conferred  bv  the  President, 
during  their  legislative  term.  Had  they  persisted  in  that  determination, 
and  especially  had  they  extended  the  ineligibility  to  the  Presidential  term, 
they  would  have  made  representatives  in  Congress  much  more  true  and 
faithful  to  their  constituents  than  many  of  them  have  been,  or  will  ever  lie. 
as  long  as  a  President  can  seduce  them  from  their  duty  to  their  country  by 
the  bait  of  office  more  profitable  or  attractive  than  their  seats  in  legislative 
chairs  of  uncertain  tenure. 


ON   THE    STl'DV    OF   TUF,    LAW. 

Do  not  repose  in  confidence,  or  presume  too  much  on  the  elementary 
knowledge  you  have  acquired  whilst  here.  Though  you  have  learned 
much,  you  are  only  initiated  into  the  first  principles,  and  pdtbared  for  the 
successful  study  of  legal  science,  the  most  of  which  is  to  you,  yet  a  'I  i  R  K  \ 
r\-(  OI.MTA.  far  beyond  the  range  of  your  circumscribed  horizon.  You 
ma\  learn  all  your  lives,  and  the  more  you  learn  the  more  von  will  find  to 
be  learned.  To  attain  the  utmost  that  can  be  accomplished,  it  is  important 
to  make  a  judicious  selection  of  books,  to  read  them  properly,  and  to  make 
a  systematic  appropriation  of  all  your  time.  It  is  not  the  number,  but  the 


LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  2OJ 

kind  of  books,  and  the  manner  of  reading  them,  that  will  be  most  useful,; 
The  most  scientific  and  approved  editions  of  elementary  books  should  be 
studied,  carefully  compared  with  the  cases  to  which  they  refer,  and  tested, 
when  doubtful  or  anomalous,  by  principle  and  analogy — and  such  text- 
books as  Blackstone,  Cruise,  and  Kent,  should  be  periodically  reviewed,  as 
well  as  occasionally  read.  The  more  important  of  the  adjudged  cases 
should  be  read  carefully  and  compared  and  collated;  and  a  commonplace 
manuscript,  arranged  by  titles,  alphabetically,  would  be  both  eminently 
useful,  by  imprinting  new  doctrines  on  the  mind,  and  always  of  great  value 
for  occasional  application. 

But  the  habit  of  intensely  thinking  and  carefully  writing  on  the  more 
abstruse  doctrines  of  the  law,  will  be  still  more  useful.  Unless  we  medi- 
tate on  what  we  read,  and  see,  and  hear,  until  we  rightly  understand  it,  we 
can  never  make  it  our  own,  or  use  it  properly  or  effectually.  Reading  and 
observation  only  supply  materials  for  meditation;  and  intellectual  rumina- 
tion is  to  the  mind  what  mastication  and  deglutition  are  to  the  body.  But 
it  is  intense  thinking  alone  that  can  digest  and  assimilate,  into  a  congenial 
and  vitalizing  essence,  the  aliment  of  the  mind.  Intensity  of  thought  is  as 
indispensable  to  the  nutriment  of  the  mind,  as  the  gastric  solvent  and  vas- 
cular labaratory  are  to  animal  digestion  and  life.  No  man  was  ever  truly 
great  or  useful,  who  did  not  think  much  and  well;  and  many  have  been 
practically  wise  without  reading  books.  Patrick  Henry's  chief  book  was 
the  volume  of  nature — but  he  thought  with  a  peculiar  interest  and  inten- 
sity— and  thus,  the  carver  of  his  own  fortune,  he  became  one  of  nature's 
tallest  noblemen.  But  he  did  not  know  much  law.  To  have  acquired  that 
science  it  was  indispensable  that  he  should  have  read  as  well  as  thought 
much.  Proper  reading  furnishes  food;  right  thinking  digests  it;  a»id  care- 
ful writing  and  speaking  rectify  it,  and  circulate  the  vital  product.  Bacon 
has  said — ''Much  reading  makes  the  full  man,  much  thinking  makes  the 
correct  man,  and  much  writing  makes  the  perfect  man." 


CHRISTIANITY. 

In  its  purity  and  simplicity — the  Christian  Religion  is  the  friend  'and 
companion  of  civil  liberty — its  constant  companion — its  best  friend.  It 
taught  man  his  true  dignity,  and  his  true  aryi  equal  rights.  It  elevated 
woman  to  her  just  rank  in  the  scale  of  being;  and,  even  amid  the  perver- 
sions and  prostitutions  of  a  wild  superstition,  it  rescued  literature  and 
civilization  from  the  ruins  of  a  dark  and  desolating  age.  It  is  not  the 
metaphysical,  or  polemic  theology  of  the  schools,  nor  the  infallible  "ortho- 
doxy" of  sectarian  bigotry,  nor  the  false  religion  of  persecution,  nor  the 
bloody  religion  of  Smithfield,  and  of  the  Inquisition — of  which  we  speak; 
but  it  is  that  mild,  and  pure,  and  holy  religion  which  rebukes  intolerance, 
and  dispels  ignorance,  and  subdues  vice — that  heavenly  religion  which 
beams  in  the  pious  mother's  eyes,  and  hallows  the  accents  of  the  pious 
mother's  lips — that  religion  which  proclaims  peace  on  earth  and  good  Will 


2O4  LIFE.    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

to  men,  and  inspires  that  love  to  God  and  to  man  which  purities  the  heart 
and  overcomes  the  world. 

It  is  the  prevalence  of  this  last  and  brightest  hope  of  man  that  will  estab- 
lish his  liberty  on  the  rock  of  ages.  And  this  it  was.  pure  and  unconstrained 
as  it  came  from  Heaven,  that  the  Father  of  his  Country  recommended  to 
the  people  of  these  United  States,  when,  in  his  valedictory  address,  he  con- 
jured them,  by  all  they  held  dear,  not  only  to  regard  religion  as  the  linnest 
prop  of  their  .Jiberty  and  happiness,  but  to  treat,  as  a  public  enemy,  him 
who  should  ever  attempt  to  undermine  or  to  shake  it. 


ON  AN  ELECTIVE  JUDICIARY. 

Popular  election  may  not  be  the  best  mode  of  selecting  good  Judges. 
Admitting  the  competency  of  the  people  to  appoint  Judges,  as  well  as  the 
incumbents  of  the  other  departments,  when  they  have  proper  opportunities 
of  doing  so,  vet  the  great  reason  whv  they  should  elect  the  latter  does  not 
apply  to  the  former.  In  legislation  the  constitutional  will  of  the  people 
ought  to  prevail — and,  therefore,  they  should  elect  their  legislative  repre- 
sentatives. The  same  principle  applies  also  to  most  of  the  duties  of  the 
Executive;  but  a  very  different  one  applies  to  the  Judiciarv,  whose  pro\  ince 
is,  not  to  echo  the  public  sentiment,  but  to  decide  the  law  and  uphold  jus- 
tice and  the  Constitution  against  an  opposing  torrent  of  popular  feeling. 
To  make  Judges  of  the  law  representatives  of  public  opinion,  like  the 
makers  of  the  law,  is  iiu -onsistent  and  suicidal.  And,  consequently,  what- 
ever will  tend  to  subject  the  Judiciary  to  the  fluctuating  tide  of  passion  or 
of  party,  is,  so  far,  subversive  of  the  American  theory  of  Constitutional 
liberty  and  security.  Had  the  Convention  only  provided  for  the  election 
of  Judges  for  a  period  of  ten  or  twelve  years,  and  declared  against  a  re- 
election, we  would  not  have  opposed  the  adoption  of  the  new  Constitution 
on  that  ground  alone.  But,  by  reducing  the  term  of  office  to  so  short  a 
period  as  six  years,  and  allowing  re-eligibility,  that  new  scheme  of  Govern- 
ment holds  out  a  bait  which  must  subject  the  Judiciarv  to  a  capricious 
power,  whose  will  the  objects  of  its  creation,  and  of  the  Constitution  itself, 
require  it  often  to  resist  and  control. 

Who  could  expect  such  a  Judiciary,  by  a  self-sacrifice,  to  maintain  the 
integrity  ol"  the  Constitution  against  an  exceedingly  popular  act  of  Assem- 
bly? Who  would  hope,  that  before  such  Judges,  the  poor  and  rich,  the 
weak  and  the  powerful,  the  popular  and  the  friendless,  the  minority  and  the 
majority,  would  have  an  equal  chance  of  stern  and  impartial  justice?  And 
for  what,  but  to  protect  those  who  have  not  the  power  to  protect  them- 
selves, is  a  Republican  Constitution  ever  made?  History  tells  a  warning 
tale  on  this  momentous  subject,  and  yet  tells  not — because  the  historian 
cannot  know — the  one  hundredth  part  of  the  corruptions,  the  prostitutions, 
and  the  oppressions,  springing  from  the  organization  of  such  a  Judiciary 
as  that  proposed  by  the  late  Convention.  But  it  does  record,  in  burning 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON.  2O5 


characters,  the  humiliating  fact  that,  even  in  our  gallant  sister  State,  Mis- 
sissippi, Judges  have  closed  their  courts  to  avoid  giving  judgments — ShenlVs 
have  resigned  to  prevent  execution — and  that,  more  than  once,  "Lynch  ' 
law  has  reigned  supreme  and  unrebuked. 

With  a  prophetic  forecast,  as  well  as  historic  truth,  Thomas  Jefferson,  in 
his  notes  on  Virginia,  denounced  such  a  servile  Judiciary  as  the  supple  in- 
strument of  faction  and  of  anarchy,  and  said,  in  reference  to  it: — •'  AH 
elective  Despotism  /v  not  the  Government  -we  fought  for.'1'1  And  echo 
should  reverberate  through  the  whole  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  "6'«<7/  HH 
elective  Despotism  is  not  the  Government  tve  fought  for." 


ON  THE  FREQUENCY  OF  ELECTIONS. 

Whilst  it  (the  Constitution  of  Kentucky)  amuses  the  unreflecting  with 
the  semblance  of  a  greatlj  augmented  electoral  power,  it  provides  lor  so 
many  and  such  frequent  elections,  and  of  so  many  officers,  high  and  low* 
at  the  same  time,  as  to  prevent  the  pure,  careful,  and  prudent  exercise  o* 
the  franchise,  throw  all  nominations  and  elections  virtually  into  the  hands 
of  a  few  busy  and  selfish  managers — degrade  the  practical  government  into 
a  trafficing  and  corrupting  oligarchy — and,  finally,  produce  among  the  in- 
dustrious and  working  classes,  a  paralyzing  indifference  about  voting,  and 
thus  operate  so  as  to  concentrate  the  elective  power  on  a  class  that  will 
make  a  trade  of  elections.  Is  this  privilege  a  boon  to  be  struggled  for  by 
wise  men? 


INSANITY. 

Intellectual  insanity  is  not  any  unsoundness  of  the  reasoning  faculty,  or 
derangement  of  the  mind  itself,  psychologically  or  spiritually  considered 
nor  erroneous  reasoning  only,  nor  violent  passion,  merely  as  such;  but  is 
a  morbid  delusion  of  the  senses,  the  feelings,  or  the  imagination,  which  fur- 
nish the  material  on  which  the  reason  acts.  As  the  serene  and  unchanged 
sun  of  heaven  reflects,  from  a  deranged  atmosphere,  unreal  and  often  dis- 
torted images,  and  even  such  as  the  beautiful  fata  morgana  in  the  T>ay  of 
Naples,  -o  the  mind  of  man.  operating  through  a  diseased  brain  or  the 
false  suggestions  of  unsound  senses,  presents  delusive  objects  or  imaginary 
facts  which  have  no  existence  elsewhere  than  in  a  diseased  brain  or  morbid 
imagination.  The  cause  is  physical,  the  effect  mental.  It  is  delusion — de- 
lusion of  a  diseased  brain  or  unsound  senses.  Man  is  so  constituted  as  to 
be  fitly  adapted  to  the  material  and  moral  world  around  him.  He  is  so 
organized  physically,  when  his  organs  are  all  perfect  and  sound,  as  to  per- 
ceive external  objects  as  they  are.  and  so  constituted  morally,  as  to  be  able, 
by  his  reason,  to  deduce  true  and  right  conclusions  from  existing  facts,  and 
to  conform  his  acts  to  the  will  of  God  and  the  laws  of  his  country.  And, 
when  in  this  perfect  condition  of  constitutional  harmony  and  adaptation' 
he  is,  in  the  legal  sense,  sane,  and  is  responsible  for  his  conduct, 


2O6  LIFE    OF    GFORGE    ROBERTSON. 

SLAVERY. 

Had  this  lot  been  cast  in  a  land  of  universal  freedom,  he  never  would 
consent  thai  its  virgin  hoiom  should  be  soiled  by  the  tread  of  slavery,  or 
its  tranquillity  disturbed  by  the  cry  of  a  slave.  Of  course,  were  he  a  resi 
dent  of  California,  he  would  oppose  the  introduction  of  slaverv  there.  l>ut 
the  people  of  that  country,  like  the  people  here,  should  be  left  free  to  reg- 
ulate their  own  domestic  relations  in  their  own  way;  and,  if  they  should 
desire  to  have  slaves.  Congress— though  in  his  opinion  possessing  the 
power  to  prevent  them  while  in  a  territorial  state  of  dependence  on  the 
unlimited  legislation  of  the  General  Government — would  act  unwisely,  as 
well  as  unjustly,  to  exercise  it,  and  more  especially  as,  in  that  case,  the  act» 
being  altogether  unnecessary,  would  seem  to  be  wantonly  intended  for  the 
political  aggrandisement  of  one  section  of  the  I'nion,  and  therefore  would 
be  the  more  ungracious  and  otlensive  to  another  section,  which,  though  not 
quite  so  populous.  is  at  least  as  intelligent  and  patriotic 

Slavrry  in  Kentuckv  is  a  moral  and  political  evil.  The  children  of  slave- 
are  iniured.  and  many  ot  them  ruined  bv  it;  a-id  it  has  greatly  re- 
ihu-ed  Kentucky's  ratio  of  political  power;  for  whilst  she.  the  lirst  born  of 
the  old  "  i  ;."  lias  only  ten  reprc-cntati\  cs  in  Congress.  Ohio,  younger  in 
origin  and  inleiior  in  physical  adaptations,  has  already  twenty-one  repre- 
sentatives in  i he  same  holy.  Hut  the  slave-  here  are  -o  numerous,  and 
slavery  itsell  is  so  intertwined  with  the  xx'ial  or  personal  habits  of  the  free 
population  as.  in  his  judgment,  to  forbid  the  adoption  now  of  anv  s\  stem 
of  emancipation  with  a  rational  hope  of  a  consummation  either  satisfactory 
or  beneficial.  Before  this  can  be  done,  the  number  of  slaves  must  be  con- 
siderably diminished,  and  the  people  more  and  more  assimilated  to  the 
non-slaveholding  habits  and  condition.  The  experiment  of  non-importa- 
tion will  soon  decide  whether  Kentuckv  is  destined  long  to  continue  a  slave- 
State,  and  will  in  proper  time,  we  hope,  develop  public  sentiment  on  that 
subject  It  is  the  interest  of  all — the  duty  of  all — to  try  that  experiment. 
Whatever  may  he  its  final  results,  its  operation  will  be  beneficial  to  all 
parties — masters  and  slaves,  the  pro-slaverv  party,  the  emancipation  party' 
and  the  conservative  party. 


But  heedless] \-  agitate  them  on  the  stultifying  topic  ot  slavery,  and  there 
will  be  neither  peace  nor  safety — here,  nor  throughout  this  entire  Union. 
Many  aspiring  politicians,  of  selfish  ambition,  and  a  still  larger  number  of 
fanatics,  on  one  side  of  "Mason's  and  Dixon's  line,"  are  striving  to  consol- 
idate the  non-slaveholding  States  on  tree  soilism  as  the  paramount  test  of 
National  party — and  there  are  but  too  many  Hotspur's  and  ultra  pro- 
slavery  men  on  the  other  and  numerically  weaker  side  of  the  line,  who 
rashlv  plav  into  the  hands  of  these  "  North  Men,"  and  encourage  an  issvie 
which,  if  ever  fully  made  up,  must  result  in  the  political  subjugation  of  the 
South,  or  a  disruption  of  the  Union.  It  is  the  interest  of  Kentucky  to  pre- 


LIFE  OF   GEORGE   ROBERTSON.  2O7 


vent  that  fearful  issue;  and  she  can  avert  it  only  by  abstaining  from  slave 
agitation  and  remaining  self-poised,  firm  and  moderate. 


LAWYERS— QUALIFICATIONS  OF. 

In  discharging  the  various  duties,  incident  to  your  profession,  you  will 
find  use  for  all  human  knowledge  and  moral  power.  Sallust  doubted 
whether  a  higher  order  of  talents  and  attainments  was  not  necessary  to 
make  a  good  historian  than  an  able  General.  But  can  there  be  any  doubt 
that  the  beau  ideal  of  an  eminent  lawyer  requires  more  knowledge  and 
moral  power,  than  .what  might  be  sufficient  to  make  an  able  General? 
Prudence,  sagacity,  decision,  courage — are  the  chief  attributes  of  able  Gen- 
eralship. The  able  and  honest  lawyer  must  have  these,  and  more.  He 
must  have  a  profound  knowledge  of  law,  an  acquaintance  with  general 
science  and  polite  literature — integrity  of  principle  and  character,  and  a 
peculiar  faculty  of  speech.  Nothing  is  more  difficult  or  interesting,  or  re- 
quires more  variety  of  attainments,  or  greater  compass  or  power  of  mind 
than  a  forensic  argument,  in  a  great  and  difficult  cause,  addressed  to  the 
reason,  the  hearts,  and  the  passions  of  men.  in  behalf  of  truth  obscured  by 
sophistry,  justice  oppressed  by  power,  or  innocence  persecuted  by  malice 
and  falsehood.  In  such  a  cause,  all  that  is  most  good  and  great  in  moral 
power  may  be  necessary  and  will  ever  be  most  useful. 

A  man  of  the  ordinary  grade  of  intellect  may,  by  assiduity,  persever- 
ance, and  fidelity,  become  a  respectable  lawyer,  and  "gel  along'1''  in  his 
profession.  But  talents,  the  most  exalted — knowledge,  most  profound  and 
various;  industry,  most  regular;  honor,  most  chivalrous;  and  integrity, 
most  pure  and  inflexible,  must  all  be  combined  in  him  who  is  eminently 
distinguished  for  forensic  ability. 

Talents,  however  bright* — knowledge,  however  great — will  be  unavailing 
or  pernicious,  without  habitual  industry,  systematic  prudence,  and  perfect 
honor.  What  Johnson  said  of  Savage,  and  Butler  of  Sheridan,  is  univer- 
sally true — "Those  who,  in  confidence  of  superior  capacities,  disregard  the 
common  maxims  of  life,  will  be  reminded  that  nothing  will  supply  the 
want  of  prudence,  and  that  negligence  and  irregularity  long  continued, 
will  make  knowledge  useless;  wit,  ridiculous;  and  genius  contemptible." 
No  lawyer,  who  neglects  that  maxim,  can  be  true  to  his  clients,  to  his  own 
fame,  or  to  the  dignity  of  his  profession.  And  here  we  'deem  it  not  inap- 
propriate to  invite  your  attention  to  the  importance  of  a  peculiar  propriety 
in  personal  and  professional  deportment;  and  also,  to  the  necessity  of, 
what  may  be  termed,  forensic  ethics. 

ist.  A  lawyer  should  be  a  gentleman  in  his  principles,  his  habits,  and 
his  deportment;  in  fine,  a  gentleman  in  the  sterling  import  of  the  term  — 
else  he  brings  degiadation  on  himself,  and  helps  to  reflect  discredit  on  the 
profession.  And  to  be  a  gentleman  in  the  true  and  perfect  sense,  is  to  l:e 
what  is  too  rare — a  man  of  sound  principles,  scrupulous  honor,  becoming 


2O8  LIFE   OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 

modesty,  active  benevolence,  habitual  morality,  and  rational,  just,  and 
polite  deportment. 

2d.  In  his  intercourse  with  his  clients,  he  should  be  candid,  respectful, 
patient,  liberal,  and  just.  He  should  never  advise  a  suit  unless  it  is  the 
interest  of  his  client  to  "go  to  law."  If  the  case  be  frivolous,  or  the  right 
doubtful,  he  should  advise  forbearance  or  compromise.  He  should  never 
encourage  litigation.  When  a  si.it  becomes  nece— ar\.  or  is  pending,  his 
tee  should  be  regulated  by  the  value  of  liis  -er\ -it •<.-.  and  the  client's  ability 
conveniently  to  pay.  An  honest  man  will  never  barter  his  conscience, 
nor  will  an  honest  lawyer  ever  speculate  on  the  ignorance,  the  fears,  or 
the  passions  of  his  confiding  client*.  A  faithful  lawver  will  never  deceive 
his  client  nor  neglect  his  business.  It  i>  his  duty,  and  his  interest  too,  to 
deal  in  perfect  candor,  and  to  do.  in  the  preparation  ot  his  client's  cause, 
all  that  he  ought  to  do;  and  that  is,  all  that  he  can  do  consistently  with 
personal  honor  or  professional  propriety.  If,  in  consequence  of  his  negli- 
gence, misdirection,  or  unskillfulness.  his  client's  claims  unjustly  or  im- 
properly fail,  he  should  indemnify  him  fully,  promptly,  and  cheerfully. 
He  should  never  attempt  success  by  any  other  than  fair,  honorable,  and 
legal  means;  nor  should  he  advise  or  connive  at  the  employment  of  any 
other  means  by  his  client.  He  is  not  bound  by  any  obligation  to  the  dig- 
nity of  his  profession  to  abandon  his  client's  cause,  merely  because  he  may 
discover  that  he  is  on  the  wrong  side:  for  he  might  be  mistaken  in  his 
opinion,  and  might  do  great  injustice  by  turning  against  bis  client.  And 
also,  it  is  his  duty,  whether  in  a  good  or  bad  cause,  on  the  wrong  side  or 
the  right,  to  present,  in  as  imposing  a  manner,  as  fair  argument  can  ex- 
hibit, the  stronger  or  more  plausible  points  in  hN  client's  behalf,  without 
expressing  an  uncandid  opinion.  In  no  case  should  he  ever  express,  as  his 
opinion,  any  thing  but  his  opinion.  To  do  so  would  not  only  be  inconsist- 
ent with  the  propriety  of  his  profession,  but  would  surely  impair  his  inthi 
ence,  subtract  from  his  reputation,  and  render  it  altogether  uncertain  when 
he  thinks  what  he  savs. 

3d.  Towards  the  court  he  should  be  respectful  and  modest,  but  firm 
and  candid;  and  he  should  never  endeavor  to  elude  his  own  responsibility, 
by  attempting  to  throw  it  unjustly  on  the  court.  The  artifice  is  but  too 
common.  It  is,  however,  not  only  disingenious,  but  discreditable  and  dis- 
advantageous; because  it  is  dishonorable, and  tends  to  disparage  the  courts 
of  justice,  in  which  public  confidence  is  indispensable  to  a  satisfactory  ad- 
ministration of  the  !aws. 

j'h.  In  his  intercourse  with  his  professional  brethren,  he  should  be 
courteous,  just,  and  honorable.  He  should  repudiate  all  dissimulation  and 
low  cunning,  and  all  those  common  place  and  humiliating  artifices  of  little 
minds,  which  constitute  chicanery.  He  should  desire  only  an  honorable 
victory;  such  as  may  be  won  by  fair  means  and  fair  arguments.  If  he 
b,-at  his  antagonist  by  superior  arguments,  or  superior  knowledge,  bis  suc- 
cess is  creditable:  but  if  he  beat  him  in  cunning,  fraud  or  trickery,  he  de- 


LIFE    OF    GEORGE    ROBERTSON. 


grades  himself,  prostitutes  his  privileges,  and  outrages  forensic  dignity  and 
propriety.  Such  vulgar  game  is  beneath  the  pride,  and  revolting  to  the 
honor  of  lofty  intellect.  It  is  the  offspring  of  moral  infirmity,  and  is 
almost  always,  proof  of  a  diminutive  mind. 

5th.  A  lawyer  can  hardly  be  both  mercenary  and  just.  An  inordinate 
appetite  for  gain,  is  apt  to  seek  gratification  in  spoliation,  fraud,  and  op- 
pression, and  is  generally  the  companion  of  a  cold  and  calculating  selfish- 
ness, irreconcilable  with  the  most  attractive  and  useful  of  the  personal, 
social,  and  civic  virtues.  Avarice  is  also  undignified  and  unreasonable. 
He,  who  is  not  content  with  a  competence  for  independence  and  rational 
enjoyment,  has  a  morbid  appetite  which  this  world  can  never  satiate  —  be- 
cause it  craves  to  hoard  and  not  to  enjoy.  More  than  a  competency  is  not 
necessary  for  happiness,  and  is  but  seldom  consistent  with  it. 

•'  Reason's  whole  pleasure,  all  the  joy  of  sense, 
Lie  in  three  words  —  health,  peace,  and  competence." 

And  the  Book  of  books  tells  us,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  a  very 
rich  man  to  reach,  or,  if  he  could  reach,  to  enjoy  heaven;  because  he  is 
almost  sure  to  be  sordid,  and  to  look  on  ephemeral,  earthly  possessions,  as 
his  sttmmum  bonum,  or  supreme  good.  It  is  almost  as  difficult  for  a  rich 
man  ever  to  become  a  great  lawyer.  There  are  but  few  who  can  be  stim- 
ulated by  ambition  or  taste  alone,  to  encounter  the  toil  and  vexation,  the 
sleepless  nights  and  anxious  days  which  must  be  the  price  of  forensic 
eminence.  And  he  who  desires  that  his  last  moments  on  earth  shall  be 
gilded  with  a  firm  assurance  that  his  children,  whom  he  has  pledged  as 
hostages  to  posterity,  shall  be  useful  and  honorable  in  their  day,  should 
not  be  solicitous  to  lay  up  for  them,  more  of  this  world's  goods  than  bare- 
ly enough  to  enable  them  to  give  to  their  moral  and  physical  powers 
proper  means  of  employment  and  development.  Why  then  should  we 
court  an  empty  and  delusive  shadow?  Worse  —  an  ignis  fatuus,  that  too 
often  lures  from  the  straight  and  open  path  of  virtue  and  happiness?  for 
we  know  how  few  there  are,  or  ever  have  been,  who  dedicate  their  surplus 
wealth  to  its  only  useful  and  proper  end  —  beneficence. 


ERRATA. 


Page. 

Line. 

Fcr. 

Read. 

II 

3° 

its  subject. 

and  its  subject. 

97 

31 

activity. 

actively. 

98 

32 

unquited. 

unrequited. 

104 

31 

and. 

amid. 

104 

32 

stood. 

trod. 

105 

9 

of  the  crucifixion. 

The  evidence  of  the,  &c. 

118 

2 

shadows. 

shallows. 

I31 

3' 

misanthrop. 

misanthropy. 

137 

ii 

opportunities. 

importunities. 

134 

34 

floor. 

door. 

*39 

36 

frequent. 

pregnant. 

141 

ii 

philosophy. 

philology. 

J5° 

36 

elaborate. 

elevated. 

'73 

7 

contunence. 

concurrence. 

174 

<>  30 

obligor. 

obligee. 

IMMRM1A    OF   I  VLUORMV   I  1KRARY 

Los  Angrlcs 
This  book  is  Dl'E  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


.  -URL 
' 


Ql  APR  18 

" 

JUNO  7  2002 


1991 


. 


UCLAVR 


JILL 


7/54 V59*0. 444 


E340 

R7A2  Robertson  - 

An  outline  cf 

life   of  ^/eorge  Robert 
son. . 


R7A2 


